The rats in the gutter only bare their teeth at you in the darkness when you lift the sewer lid.

Suren knew this wasn't over.

Instead of running and letting them find another opportunity to scheme, he might as well take the chance to completely overturn the lid this time.

Besides...

Unless he beat these guys to death one by one, he couldn't suppress the tsunami of rage in his heart!

Suren was self-aware enough to know that he was no match for the puppet grandmaster, Aubrey.

After all, there was a difference of two major ranks, and the gap in the understanding of laws couldn't be bridged by skills and experience alone. What’s more, it was the major threshold of a seventh-tier professional.

However, it was almost impossible for the other party to kill him.

Perhaps other seventh-tier professionals might have a chance, but since the opponent was a fellow puppeteer, the old man had absolutely no chance.

...

Hearing Suren planning to kill people right in front of him, Grandmaster Aubrey's old face darkened.

He had been paying close attention to the Battle of Moros City-State, which was touted in the newspapers. There were indeed some commendable points.

Outsiders watched the excitement, but insiders saw the details.

In the eyes of this puppet grandmaster, it was just a matter of astonishing numbers, and those mechanical puppets were somewhat interesting.

In terms of single puppet combat power, only the gargoyle was worthy of attention.

It wasn't that he underestimated his colleagues, but puppeteers naturally had different schools because of different focuses.

Some factions prioritize the number of advanced routes, focusing on large-scale team battles; while some factions prioritize the quality of the routes, which are better at small unit operations!

In a one-on-one fight, Aubrey didn't think this "Grim Reaper," who was rumored to be very mysterious, was very strong.

Probably because he was used to being in high society, the old man was planning to say a few words.

But Suren didn't give him a chance to talk nonsense at all. With a double hand seal, the pattern of the alchemical array lit up under his feet.

"Hmph! Overestimating yourself!"

Seeing that the other party had really made a move, Aubrey snorted coldly in his heart, and his movements were not slow.

He raised his hand and made a single hand seal, summoning a strange-looking puppet more than three meters tall out of thin air.

This puppet was obviously very tall, but its body proportions were like an enlarged version of a dwarf, with very deformed proportions.

As soon as this puppet appeared, it swallowed Elsa next to it in one gulp.

In the next moment, the black magic patterns on the puppet lit up, and with a flash of light, its body turned transparent to the naked eye, disappearing into thin air.

After the old man finished this action, his white eyebrows raised slightly, his expression as if to say: Aren't you crazy about killing people? Let’s see how you kill now!

Suren watched Elsa disappear, his eyes narrowed.

But he wasn't too surprised.

He recognized that the puppet just now was one of the old man's famous dark gold puppets, [Seven Dwarfs - Machine Kill Hidden Puppet].

As a colleague, Suren had to admit that the quality of this puppet was very, very high.

Moreover, this wasn't a simple optical camouflage. In Suren's perception, the space no longer had the existence of the "object" of the puppet.

This was obviously a very clever space concealment technique.

The puppet had already hidden in a secondary space.

Ordinary professionals, let alone find the target at all, even if it was a range attack, they couldn't hurt Elsa hidden in the puppet at all.

Unfortunately, he met Suren.

Not to mention that he could clearly sense the hair-thin space gap left by the puppet connecting to this main plane, but also the soul fluctuations of Elsa were also nowhere to hide in his perception.

This hiding method was meaningless to him.

However, Suren didn't find a chance for a fatal blow at the first time, so he pretended not to have noticed anything unusual.

He also wanted to try, how big was the gap between himself and Aubrey, who was known as one of the ceilings of contemporary puppeteer professionals!

...

Seeing that the two were about to fight, the onlookers who were watching the excitement scattered and scurried out of the exhibition hall.

At the moment when Elsa was hidden and disappeared, Suren's technique was also condensed successfully, and he shouted softly: "Puppet Art - Puppet Theater!"

As soon as the mage was successful, dense threads appeared everywhere in the exhibition hall.

Aubrey squinted his eyes and looked at the threads covering the entire exhibition hall. Although he was not afraid, he also praised: "Your puppet secret technique is indeed a bit interesting. Even in the guild, few people can match it. Unfortunately, the rank gap is too big, and this is not something that skills can make up for!"

As he said that, his hands also made hand seals instantly, "Colonial Armor - Disassemble!"

Forget it, the ignorant juniors always question the strength of the Puppeteer Guild is not as good as some "Grim Reaper" who came out halfway.

Today, he, the president, will justify the guild's name.

As soon as the mage's seal was formed, Aubrey's face was like a praying mantis, and his hands grabbed in the void, and a large number of black metallic threads suddenly spurted out of his ten fingers: "Puppet Secret Method - Thousand Blade Grid Room!"

Suren's eyes narrowed slightly when he saw the old man's means of controlling the threads.

This was a mythical species colonial armor whose effect was not inferior to his own [Wailing Witch's Hair] - [Scale-winged Stone Cicada's Silk Gland].

The mythical insect, the scale-winged stone cicada, had become extinct for hundreds of millions of years, and thanks to the deep foundation of organizations like the Puppeteer Guild, they didn't know where to find an atavistic species and refined it into a colonial armor.

The threads produced by this colonial armor are extremely tough and can carry high-level rune inscriptions.

After being inscribed, it is comparable to a sharp blade.

Although the threads cannot be elementalized, they can almost cut through any obstacles blocking the threads with their sharpness.

The fighting methods of puppeteer colleagues are similar, and they must control the field within the range when they make a move.

"Puppet Theater" met "Grid Room".

In an instant, the threads of both sides were intertwined, trying to compete for the thread control of this exhibition hall.

But it was obvious that Suren was at a disadvantage as soon as they met.

Those black threads were like scythes, easily cutting through the light blue witch's hair.

With the same number, the quality of Suren's threads was far inferior to that of Aubrey, the seventh-tier grandmaster.

Unfortunately, if the quality is not enough, the quantity can make up for it.

The information showed that Aubrey's carefully refined natal iron threads were only a few thousand or tens of thousands, but Suren's witch hair was endless.

If a hundred were cut off, he still had ten thousand, a million!

He had the infinite dark spirit power provided by the [Isaac Alchemical Heart], which was enough to support him to use the threads wantonly.

One witch hair condensed into bundles, and bundles of them condensed into bales.

They were broken and reconnected, and constantly entangled with those black threads.

Aubrey's black iron threads cut iron like mud, cutting into the walls of the exhibition hall, like cutting into soft mud. In a very short period of time, the two top puppeteers silently cut the entire three-story exhibition hall into pieces with their threads.

...

"Rumble~"

The house collapsed, and rubble fell like thunder and rain.

Two figures appeared on the ruins.

Aubrey was also shocked when he saw that his threads were entangled.

He looked at the endless threads and realized: "So it is fused with an ultra-high-level energy colonial armor, no wonder it can support such an exaggerated number of puppet manipulations."

Ordinary people would exhaust their spiritual energy after wasting spiritual power like this for a short time. But this guy not only didn't show any signs of exhaustion, but instead, it was surging more and more.

After this test, Aubrey really began to take it seriously.

Legends are legends, and most of them have exaggerated elements.

Seeing the "Grim Reaper's" methods with his own eyes for the first time, Aubrey, the grandmaster, also felt a strong sense of threat.

This was still a contest with a large difference in rank.

If it was a professional of the same rank, the result of this thread control competition would be really hard to say!

He knew that it was impossible to defeat the person in front of him with threads alone, so he raised his hand and grabbed, and two large dwarf puppets of the same three meters tall appeared beside him.

The control ability of top-level professionals over the battlefield is definitely not as full of loopholes as low-level professionals. Once they find an opportunity, they will not give the opponent time to react at all.

The moment the two puppets, one red and one blue, appeared beside him, the two puppets suddenly opened their mouths.

One spat out a black flame breath, and the other sprayed out a foul-smelling green water that corroded the air into white smoke.

"Fire Mystery - Hell True Flame!"

"Water Magic Secret Technique - Great Water Dragon Technique!"

Two elemental giant pythons condensed from sixth-order spells were released instantly and charged towards Suren.

Wherever the water and fire giant pythons passed, whether it was threads or broken walls, they were all burned to ashes in an instant. They violently left two terrifying burning trails on the ground.

On closer inspection, the old man's two puppets were not using ordinary elemental spells, but composite techniques with curses added.

One was inlaid with the [Dark System Fire Demon Heart], and the other stored the [Venomous Viper Poison Sac].

These two elemental puppets themselves were cursed objects with super curse characteristics, and the spells they cast also had additional fire poison and water poison damage.

If this were a real person casting spells, it would be a more complicated hand seal, and the start would be half a beat slower.

This is one of the professional advantages of puppeteers.

They can use puppets as carriers to solidify various techniques, store energy in advance, and release them almost instantly in battle.

.....

The puppets were very sophisticated, but there was no secret in Suren's eyes of omniscient knowledge.

Moreover, he himself was a top puppet maker. With one look, he could almost instantly identify the operating principles of the opponent's puppets.

Seeing these quasi-seventh-order puppets, apart from thinking they were powerful, he also felt extremely emotional in his heart: Rich, with a solid foundation.

Whether they were strong or not was another matter, but they were really rich.

A slightly more sophisticated fourth-order puppet would cost tens of millions of Lisos in material costs. The cost of these two quasi-seventh-order puppets would definitely be an astonishing number.

Seeing that some parts were already very old, they were obviously antiques inherited from the elemental puppeteer lineage.

Money is combat power, which is extremely true in the puppeteer professional field.

...

Two sixth-order spells were enough to turn Suren and a large area near him into ashes.

But Suren didn't mean to move at all. With a grab of his finger, a gargoyle puppet with huge bat wings appeared out of thin air in front of him.

The gargoyle held its hands flat forward, and two vortex black holes were rapidly condensed in its palms.

The old man's puppets were strong, and Suren's gargoyles were not bad either.

The two elemental giant pythons with a diameter of several meters surged forward, but before they had time to show their power, they were swallowed by the huge suction of the space black holes in the gargoyle's hands.

Almost at the same time, Suren felt a slight chill on his back, and he sensed that the "wind" around his body was suddenly imprisoned.

Another sixth-order spell - [Wind Alchemy - Wind Boundary Binding Lock]!

Even without looking, Suren knew that the puppet hidden in the sky had made a move, at the moment when his attention was attracted by the two spells in front of him.

This was one of the seven elemental dwarfs, the [Wind Howl Puppet].

This kind of wind-based imprisonment magic made the air within the range as viscous as glue. Even with Suren's strength, he instantly felt that it was difficult to move.

Normally speaking, this kind of triangular killing tactic with puppets cooperating with each other was enough to make a fifth-order or sixth-order professional hate on the spot.

Unfortunately, for Suren, who had mastered space displacement, this control technique had no limiting effect.

With a slight displacement, he dodged the wind blade killing intent that followed.

In the next moment, the energy fluctuations in the gargoyle's black holes surged again.

Looking again, the previous two sixth-order spells were returned intact.

The water and fire giant pythons swept towards Master Aubrey not far away.

This was an instant spell and a range attack. Although its power was low among the sixth-order elemental spells, its speed was extremely fast and it was extremely difficult to avoid.

Aubrey watched the spells he had cast rushing towards him, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

Only insiders could understand that this was not a simple technique return, it contained the control of space, water, and fire elements.

This gargoyle puppet is not simple!

The old man finally didn't choose to dodge in embarrassment, he just raised one hand and held his palm in front of him.

In an instant, a yellow barrier appeared in front of him.

The two aggressive spells collapsed outside the barrier, without hurting Aubrey at all.

Seeing this, Suren murmured in his heart: "Tsk tsk, finally using the domain."

Puppeteers have enough output, even if their bodies don't participate in the battle, they can make up for their lack of combat power through various puppets.

On the contrary, their own defense is a big shortcoming.

Therefore, the domain that this puppet grandmaster comprehended was [Domain - Absolute Barrier], which was specially used for standing and outputting.

With this method, not to mention facing Suren, even among professionals of the same rank, the old man would not be defeated in a short time.

This was also one of the most important reasons why Suren felt that it was impossible to kill him.

But there are gains and losses.

Since it was a defensive domain, the attack methods brought by the rank were greatly reduced.

Aubrey also lost effective means to kill Suren.

Puppets alone are enough for others.

For Suren, the threat was far less great.

...

The two had exchanged blows with threads and puppets for two rounds, which was only an instant.

Now, they stopped tacitly for a moment.

Suren held the black scythe and looked at Grandmaster Aubrey, who was shining with golden light, and said, "Master Aubrey, if you only use these methods, I'm afraid you won't be able to stop me."

Although he said that, Suren didn't mean to underestimate him at all in his heart.

Regardless of the speed of casting spells, the skill of controlling threads, the control of combat timing, and the understanding of puppet techniques, this old man deserved the name of puppet grandmaster.

The reason why he said this was just to see the real skills of this fellow grandmaster in a limited time.

It is said that the old man's strongest combat power state is after the "Seven Dwarfs" all appear.

Now it's just one or two percent of his methods.

Aubrey listened and didn't speak.

He looked at Suren in front of him, and his expression became more and more solemn.

He also admitted in his heart that this was indeed the case.

Although he couldn't be defeated, he didn't seem to see any certainty that he could absolutely kill the person in front of him.

Colleagues know each other best. After a fight, Aubrey knew that although this guy's rank was not enough, his understanding of puppet techniques was definitely one of the very few people at the top of the pyramid in the world.

The potential threat is extremely great!

If this kind of person cannot be kept for his own use, then it is best to eliminate them.

At this moment, Aubrey really had a killing intention.

Suren didn't give the old man too much time to think.

Seeing the means of the ceiling of his peers was one thing, but he didn't forget that his purpose was to kill people.

At this time, he took out the rune black umbrella.

Then he pulled out a few [Smoke Puppets], and as soon as they were activated, the puppets opened their mouths and sprayed thick smoke wildly.

Before long, the ruins of the entire exhibition hall were covered in thick smoke, and you couldn't see your fingers.

This method was not to completely hide the perception of a seventh-order professional, but Suren didn't want the reporters and onlookers to see his methods.

He wasn't in a hurry now.

Because he was sure that before he killed Elsa, some people would probably not see high-level professionals coming to interfere.

...

Suren and Grandmaster Aubrey had a big battle in the exhibition hall, and in the blink of an eye, the exhibition hall collapsed.

Moreover, the fighting was getting bigger and bigger, and gradually affected the entire street.

Thick smoke filled most of the street, and there were shadows of people in it.

"Bang", "Bang", "Bang"...

Gunshots, the sound of swords clashing, the sound of magic explosions, the sound of threads cutting... all kinds of sounds were mixed together.

It was obviously just a battle between two puppeteers, but it was hard to fight out the feeling of a gang fight.

The elements of the entire street were chaotic.

The patrolling mounted police had already discovered the situation here, but none of these first- and second-order patrolmen dared to approach, and they all hid behind cover.

"Quickly notify the General Police Department, there is a large-scale armed fight on Vineyard Street, with high-level professionals involved. The number of participants is unknown, and they may be carrying heavy weapons!"

The fighting was getting bigger and bigger, and the crowds watching the excitement were getting farther and farther away.

At this time, an inconspicuous steam car had already driven to the high ground not far from Vineyard Street.

In the car, two people silently observed the battle not far away.

They were not surprised, as if they had foreseen it.

"They came really fast. They actually confirmed the clues and found Elsa in such a short time. That guy's intelligence ability is really strong."

"Don't be too surprised. That 'Dawn Group' robbed a void resource that the North Sea Fleet was developing in the North Sea secret realm before. The Dawn Group has a large number of void materials in their hands, and that person is probably also fusing some high-quality void materials now, and their displacement ability is very strong. However, these news have not been spread, and are not known to outsiders."

"..."

The conversation was between a man and a woman.

If Suren was here, he would naturally recognize that the man was William, the young master of the Legardi family.

But the woman covered her face in a cloak, and her face could not be seen.

William looked at the exaggerated fighting, frowned, and murmured to himself: "I didn't expect that not killing him last time would bring me so much trouble."

Thinking about it, he asked the cloaked person beside him: "Can that guy really kill Elsa under the protection of Grandmaster Aubrey?"

If this cloaked person hadn't said with certainty that it would definitely work, he would never have believed such an outrageous plan.

After all, Grandmaster Aubrey was a well-known powerhouse in Lindon, and he couldn't do it either.

Hearing this, the cloaked person said lightly: "The prediction shows that Elsa will definitely die today."

After a pause, she continued: "You know my identity, so you know that I have a mortal feud with that person. So you don't have to worry about me having any selfish motives."

William listened expressionlessly, as if he also acquiesced to this statement, "But even if he can kill Elsa, can he definitely enter the game?"

The cloaked person responded: "Before, I just guessed that he had a special ability to obtain information, and I wasn't 100% sure what it was. But now... I have determined that it should be an ability similar to 'necromantic interrogation' or 'mental hypnosis', which can directly obtain the information he wants from people's consciousness. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to come so quickly. This is probably related to his second-level death-type talent. That kind of talent is too rare, and there is too little information, so it is difficult to know the specific ability..."

William's expression became more and more ugly as he listened.

A suspected double-S talent made him, the first heir to the Legardi family, feel a great threat.

This person must not be kept!

The cloaked person seemed to see William's thoughts and continued: "But no matter how good the talent is, it doesn't matter anymore. He will definitely die this time."

When talking about Suren, the woman's tone seemed to have a gnashing hatred.

She continued: "Killing a Bach family's eldest lady is not enough. When that old guy from the Rodriguez family dies, this matter will be completely safe. At that time, if he is caught, he will definitely die if he doesn't reveal his identity. Once he reveals his identity and seeks to survive, the marriage will definitely not be possible, and in the end, he will still die. But the marriage between your Legardi and Lance families will still continue, and Young Master William will naturally be able to achieve his wish. Moreover, with the death of the old guy from the Rodriguez family, the Luying political situation will inevitably be greatly turbulent, and several great councilors will also have fierce internal friction. At that time, the Legardi family's opportunity will really come, and it may not be impossible to completely change the empire's structure..."

Hearing this, William's eyes narrowed slightly, and although he didn't speak, his eyes also became firm.

After watching the battle for a while, the cloaked person said again: "But before that Elsa is killed, we must not let the official high-level professionals come to interfere and stop it."

William nodded: "I have already arranged it. The alarm information from the Lindon General Police Department has been intercepted, and no high-level professionals will go there in a short time."

Speaking of this, he pondered for a moment and said in a complicated tone: "I hope that guy really has the ability to kill Elsa as you said."

...

At the same time, in a luxurious mansion in the rich area north of the Loco Valen River.

A middle-aged man with a big beard wearing flowered shorts excitedly knocked on the door of the study and shouted: "Oh, my baby daughter, there is explosive news!"

The servant opened the door, and the bearded man strode in.

This sloppy guy was none other than the "Tulip Duke" Bartolo Lance.

In the study, Yekaterina was leisurely reading a book. Seeing her father walking in with great interest, she tilted her head and glanced at him: "Oh???"

Bartolo excitedly shared the information he had obtained, saying: "I just got the news that that kid is having a big battle with Aubrey of the Puppeteer Guild in Queens, and the commotion is extremely loud."

His expression was like a melon-eating crowd who was eager to watch the excitement, without the slightest awareness that he was a grand duke.

Hearing the title "that kid", Yekaterina instantly knew who it was.

But her expression didn't change at all, and she just asked lightly: "What for?"

Bartolo said: "It seems that I heard that one of his disciples was kidnapped by the Bach family's little girl, Elsa. That kid went to ask for an explanation, and it happened that Aubrey, the old man, was also there, and the two started fighting."

"Oh."

Yekaterina's expression changed slightly when she heard this.

Her eyes scanned another line on the book page, thought for a moment, and the doubts in her crystal eyes suddenly became clear, as if she had guessed something, and then said: "It should be aimed at our Lance family. The people with motives... are probably Duke Raphael and Young Master William's methods."

Bartolo chuckled when he heard this, obviously he had guessed it too.

And he knew that this was to disrupt the marriage.

However, this didn't seem to be important.

Bartolo was more interested in watching the excitement instead, and asked: "I said daughter, aren't you planning to help? If he is caught, he will definitely die this time, and the marriage will definitely have big problems."

"No need."

Yekaterina didn't seem to be interested.

She played with two glittering purple meteorites in her slender hand and said lightly: "He dares to do it, he must have confidence."

Hearing that his precious daughter wasn't going, Bartolo's interest in watching the excitement suddenly dropped by three points, "But... what if that kid treats you as his confidence to dare to do it? If you don't go, won't it be bad?"

Yekaterina raised her eyebrows and glanced at him, shaking her head slightly and said: "I may be one of the reasons why he dares to do it in Lindon. But it is definitely not the only one. Don't worry, he is not so easy to be schemed against."

Bartolo curled his lips, seemingly a little bored: "Oh... is that so."

He tilted his head and thought for a while, but he still couldn't hold back his curiosity, and the raging gossip fire in his eyes lit up again: "Anyway, I'm going to watch the excitement. Tsk tsk, when I beat that kid before, I only thought he was barely able to catch my eye. I didn't expect that after not seeing him for a few months, he would be able to fight with Aubrey, the old man. He's making progress pretty fast... No, I have to go and see this excitement."

Seeing that his old dad was about to go out, Yekaterina didn't forget to pour cold water on him again: "I said Father, you are probably going to be disappointed. I think when you arrive, you are likely to not see the excitement. Since he made a move, he will definitely kill people before someone interferes."

Hearing this, Bartolo was a little unhappy and said in a sour tone: "Hey, hey, baby daughter, I have never seen you have so much confidence in your old dad! That kid is really what you said, good here, good there?"

Yekaterina rolled her eyes at her old dad and was too lazy to explain.

Thinking of something, this grand duke muttered again without any demeanor of a master: "Oh, it seems that I beat him too lightly last time. No, I have to go and see him!"

The nagging continued in her ears, buzzing like a bee.

Naturally, she couldn't read the book.

Yekaterina looked at her old dad with a rather helpless expression, how could she not know that he just wanted her to accompany him to watch the excitement.

She then stood up and said: "Forget it, it's okay to go and see. There should be a follow-up. Just a Marquis of Purple Mountain is obviously not enough weight. He chose to do it in the city, probably because he wants to make things big and let those rats in the sewers see the light..."

Bartolo was immediately happy.

"Aiyo, then let's go quickly, father and daughter! Maybe we can still catch up with the most exciting part. Hahaha... Let's go, let's go, I just asked the butler to arrange the car, it's just right to go down now."

"..."

"I say Katyusha, when are you planning to come to the front from behind the scenes? Dad can pass the position to you. Then I plan to complete my dream journey. Oh, being the head of the family is really boring."

"Soon."

"Then you have to hurry up. Otherwise, Dad won't be able to catch the tail of his youth. There are so many beautiful scenery on the journey, waiting for your dad to meet..."

"..."