Chapter 1 PS. Draft

The surrounding scenery changed. When Sullen focused again, he found himself in an independent black-and-white checkered space.

There wasn't a hint of surprise on his face.

He raised a hand to test, and he could still grasp the ripples in space.

This meant that the chessboard space had never restricted professionals who had mastered "spatial abilities" from the very beginning.

Hmm...

Which meant it was completely useless to Sullen.

However, he couldn't retrieve anything from the space ring or other inferior spatial storage devices.

If it were anyone else, faced with this situation, they would have to fight hand-to-hand with the guy in front of them, with only the things they were carrying on their person.

No wonder that young master Danze had taken out several seemingly exquisite alchemical puppets to protect himself in advance.

However, this didn't restrict Sullen's folded space.

Although he didn't need to take out anything to kill this guy.

It was just as well.

The bait had been thrown for so long, and this guy finally came with this treasure.

[Steinitz's Chessboard]

Description: Chess requires a fair one-on-one duel.

Traits: Using this chessboard forcibly selects a living target for a one-on-one duel within a restricted space until one party dies or voluntarily解除（jiechu: cancels/releases); This is not a cursed object, but after the contract uses the chessboard, the old lich's remnant will pester you to play chess in your dreams. If you can't win, then keep playing with him forever.

Detailed Explanation: This is an ancient alchemist's soul-hosting container called "Mishaer Toxster." He used black magic and necromancy to transform himself into a lich. This is something from the Dawn Era. Because time has passed for too long, the lich's soul is already fragmented, and most of the curse properties have been lost. Perhaps its value lies not only in the chessboard itself. Chat more with that old lich who always talks nonsense and says he is the king of the "Tarkoru Empire," and you might learn some secrets of the Dawn Era.

"Forced spatial restriction... a good thing."

Sullen glanced at the information he had identified, which was similar to what he already knew.

No wonder the "Trickster" Lloyd couldn't stop thinking about it even temporarily. This chessboard was indeed very suitable for puppeteers.

A treasure isn't about being strong, but about having a high degree of compatibility with one's professional abilities.

This chessboard didn't seem to have any offensive capabilities, but it could forcibly restrict the target in this narrow space, with no way to escape.

With the [Puppet Theater]'s range-covering puppet abilities, it would indeed be difficult to find an opponent of the same rank.

Also, because it was only one-on-one, living beings like zombies couldn't be brought in.

This thing really restricted Sullen.

No wonder young master Danze was so confident in choosing a one-on-one duel.

.......

Young master Danze had been waiting for this day for a long time.

Ever since he met this "Sullen" at a stall in Dawn Camp and had a few strands of his hair snatched, his smooth-sailing life had been fraught with setbacks.

In the White Abbey battle, this guy stole his opportunity, killed his guards, and caused the family to lose face. Later, in the interception battle, he killed his teacher and ten second-tier experts, causing the Oliver family to suffer heavy losses. A few days ago, he even dared to come to his door to provoke him...

After repeated setbacks, Danze's heart had long been filled with anger. If he didn't kill this guy with his own hands, he felt that he wouldn't be able to swallow this breath.

He looked at Sullen in front of him, his warlock seals changing rapidly in his hands, and said with hatred, "How dare you be my enemy?"

Just an outer-city commoner relying on a sealed object to show off.

Humph, now that he doesn't have the scythe, let's see how he dies!

"..."

Sullen listened to this chuuni (中二病） dialogue and raised his eyelids.

He was also familiar with that warlock seal, which was the starting move of [Puppet Theater].

The proficiency was not bad, and it could be seen that it was taught by a master.

Perhaps these young masters were used to being arrogant and felt that if they didn't say a few words, they wouldn't be able to show off their superiority as top-tier young masters.

If it were in other places, Sullen would have been interested in chatting with this young master.

But now, the outside was lively, and he wasn't in the mood to waste time here. He raised his hand and also pinched the warlock seal.

At this start, Danze's eyes froze.

How could he not be familiar with this starting move?

"He... how could he know [Puppet Theater]?"

Although he knew that Sullen had the detailed scroll of this puppet arcane technique, how could he even get started with an arcane skill without years of hard work?

Moreover, without a teacher's personal guidance, how could he master this kind of manipulation skill quickly?

Danze was not only shocked that Sullen was using the same moves as him, but also that the speed of the opponent's seal was even faster than his own!

How was that possible?

Danze was terrified.

The [Puppet Theater] arcane technique has a total of thirty-six warlock seals.

He had the first move, and his warlock seal had only condensed halfway.

The mark in Sullen's hand changed and caught up with him in a blink of an eye!

The warlock seal wasn't just about changing a few gestures on the hand. The more complex the warlock seal, the more complex the energy mobilization it represented.

It not only had to be fast, but also accurate, otherwise it would be all in vain.

But this guy in front of him was even more skilled than him?

Looking at that proficiency, Danze seemed to see the shadow of his teacher.

At this moment, he even suspected that this was another disciple taught by the same teacher.

But reality didn't give him a chance to think more.

Almost at the same time, one after the other, the last mark was pinched out.

The two sides condensed their術式（jutsushiki:techniques/spells) almost simultaneously, and two blue hexagram formations lit up in the sky: "Puppet Arcane: Puppet Theater!"

As soon as the formation appeared, two huge crosses slowly emerged in the air at the same time.

When the same technique appeared in a limited space, there would be "energy plunder," and the stronger party would easily defeat the other.

Two crosses appeared at the same time, and one of them slowly collapsed.

"I... I would actually lose to him?!"

Young master Danze's face changed drastically. Even if he forcibly put a handful of cursed crystals into the hexagram formation under his feet to replenish energy, he couldn't stop the collapse of his technique.

That kind of overwhelming momentum was a situation that would only appear with階位（kai'i: rank/tier) crushing.

This also meant that whether it was at the level of法则（hōsoku: laws/rules), or the understanding of the technique, there was a crushing gap between the two!

Was he third-tier?

How could that be...

Danze's face was ashen.

.......

Sullen ignored young master Danze's shock.

As soon as the cross formed in the sky, dense silk threads fell from the sky.

Young master Danze wanted to rely on his silk threads and puppets to entangle for a while, but whether it was silk threads or techniques, or anything else, the gap between the two sides was too great.

When silk threads touched silk threads, there was no qualification for competition.

Danze could only defend passively, pulling the silk threads of his殖装（shokusō: armoring/gear) to protect himself.

Sullen didn't give him any chance at all. He grabbed with his ten fingers in the void and controlled the silk threads to tightly wrap this guy into a cocoon.

Seeing that he was about to be controlled to death, young master Danze quickly解除（kaijo: deactivated/released) the space of the chessboard and let out a miserable scream, "Save me!"

Kill him?

No, Sullen didn't intend to do that.

If this young master Danze didn't die, the Oliver family's guards would have to come to his rescue one after another.

This was much more convenient than him chasing after them one by one to kill them.

Sullen looked at the collapsing scenery of the chessboard and licked his lips. The violence in his eyes became more and more intense: "Now... it's just the beginning."

.......

When Mr. Zorro saw that the SS wanted criminal was Sullen, Reina and butler Anthony were shocked, but also had some expectations.

The way he killed Ibn Jallad of the "Night Blade" in one move, Sullen's strength had already been very amazing. With the sealed black scythe, it had to be said that they even had a chance to turn the tables.

But unexpectedly, the young master Danze suddenly took out a chessboard treasure and teleported the man away?

Without thinking, the young master Danze must have had some way to restrain Sullen, so he would do that.

This made Kai and the three of them feel a chill in their hearts.

"Mr. Kai, take the young lady away! I'll hold them back!"

"Okay!"

"..."

The situation was urgent, and there was no room for hesitation.

The old butler had already had the determination to die. With a roar, his whole body transformed into a burly black-haired demon sheep, directly blocking between the rain of bullets. Even the alchemical bullets that hit him were弹射（danshe: ricochet/bounce) away with a "clang".

However, the means of the high-level professionals of the two major families were not weak either. A group of people gathered around.

In front was the third-tier "Thunder Sword King" Nero, behind was the three disaster elders of the Mysterious Association, as well as more than twenty second-tier professionals and nearly a thousand elites...

For a time, countless techniques came down like a torrential rain.

Even if the demon sheep's body and rune armor could withstand artillery fire, it was beaten until it vomited blood in one move by this dense attack.

This old butler held the idea of ​​dragging on for a while if he could, trying to attract most of the firepower and create a chance for Kai and Reina to escape.

But unexpectedly, before he had time to fight, he suddenly heard a scream that resounded throughout the prison.

"Save me!"

That miserable and desperate cry for help seemed to be from that young master Danze?

Looking again, Danze, who was covered in black lines, had been completely wrapped into a cocoon by silver silk threads. The huge force squeezed him, like a python缠身（chánshēn: coiling around the body), and this young master vomited blood wildly.

This scream also seemed to press the pause button on the fierce battle.

The people on both sides of the battle were stunned for a moment.

What was going on?

In just three or five breaths, the battle was over?

The [Puppet Theater] technique in the air had not yet dissipated. Looking at the cross, "Thunder Sword King" Nero's face darkened, and he immediately understood something.

He knew very well the effect of the [Steinitz Chessboard]. In that kind of restricted space, Danze actually lost?

At the same time, he was filled with disbelief and was terrified: "This... how could this Sullen also know this technique!"

Before the crowd could think more, at this moment, Sullen, who reappeared, suddenly took out a few scrolls, spread them out in the air, and shouted, "Unseal!"

The scrolls exploded, and the fragments filled the sky.

Looking again, in the dark prison corridor, hundreds of red-faced rune dolls appeared out of thin air. They had creepy weird smiles on their faces, and their jaws kept颤动（chandong: vibrating/trembling) and发出（hasshutsu: emitted) a kind of low-frequency strange laughter that made people shudder.

There were single heads, double heads...

Two arms, four arms, six arms...

Like kites, more than a hundred strange puppets floated in the air, staring straight at the enemies surrounding them.

The red light in Sullen's eyes had gradually appeared at this moment.

Even people whose perception wasn't strong enough could feel that he was like a burning flame. The special fluctuation of精神力（seishinryoku: mental strength/spiritual power) overflowed from his body, like radiation ripples, making people's expressions slightly恍惚（kouro: dazed/absent minded).

Sullen grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and a crazy and excited smile hung on the corner of his mouth.

He let out a low beast-like roar in his throat: "Secret Skill - Hundred Ghost Night Walk!"

.......

Seeing the shocking scene of Sullen controlling hundreds of puppets at the same time, everyone was stunned.

The people of the Oliver and Clarke families understood how ignorant their previous thoughts were.

The SS wanted criminal Sullen on the intelligence and the combat power of this person in front of them were not in the same concept at all.

Not only was young master Danze careless, but before that, almost everyone thought that Sullen was just lucky, had mastered a way to avoid the curse反噬（hanshi: backlash/counterattack) of the black scythe, and had escaped many times by luck. wanted criminal.

But reality gave them a heavy slap in the face, waking them up immediately.

Not to mention what the hundreds of puppets could do, just the strange sense of oppression on Sullen's body at this moment could not be fake.

That was the kind of feeling that made those second-tier professionals feel a numb scalp.

Among people of the same階級（kaikyū: level/rank), there were still people who could make them feel like they would be killed just by looking at them?

Just feeling it, they knew that this guy's own strength was definitely very terrifying!

Even the only third-tier professional, "Thunder Sword King" Nero, changed his face when he saw Sullen, becoming very凝重（gyōshuku: solemn/grave).

"What a strong mental power, no wonder he can control so many puppets..."

Seeing this, the old brand third-tier's eyes were not only凝重（gyōshuku: solemn/grave) but even more凝重（gyōshuku: solemn/grave), "Could his professional ability be 'spatial ability'?"

He didn't think that these hundred puppets were bluffing.

Hundreds of weird puppets, each covered with complex blue light runes, these were not ordinary low-level runes...

Intuition told Nero that he should kill that guy, but with Anthony desperately holding him back, he couldn't free his hands at all.

.......

Sullen's appearance as a puppeteer, with one person forming an army, forcibly made up for a large part of the original one-sided difference in numbers.

Although the number was still different, the puppet army's aura was not inferior to that of the two families at all.

As soon as the puppets appeared, Sullen didn't give the enemy any time to react, and controlled the eight-armed spider spear at the same time.

It was almost impossible to precisely control hundreds of puppets at the same time, but at this moment, it was different.

He gradually released the emotions he had suppressed, and his thoughts seemed to be散発（sanhatsu: radiate/emanate) and a new world appeared before him.

Happiness, anger, sorrow, thought, sadness, fear, surprise...

Those suppressed emotions were like "Sullen", helping him distract himself from controlling the puppet.

"They" were all very interested in killing people.

Like fireworks exploding suddenly, blooming in colorful ways.

His senses were becoming clearer and clearer, as if he was抽絲（chusshi: drawing silk: like unraveling threads) and his mind was恍惚（kouro: dazed/absent minded), but there was also a ethereal feel...

肆意（shieki: unrestrained/wanton) letting go of his emotions made his body feel the ultimate pleasure.

Sullen licked his lips, becoming more and more贪恋（tanren: fond of/attached to) this feeling that made his body extremely excited and愉悦（yukai: delighted/joyful), "Hehe, it's really a pleasing state..."

He grabbed with his fingers, and hundreds of puppets rushed into the crowd frantically.

"Crack" "Crack" "Crack"...

The rubbing sound of the weird puppet's wooden joints was creepy.

Seeing those terrifying red-faced puppets flying over, the people of the two families were惶恐（koufu: alarmed/panic-stricken), and raised their guns together, and the sound of gunfire was loud for a while.

"Pa!"

"Pa!"

"Pa!"

"..."

The two families also had no shortage of sharpshooters, and many puppets were hit.

But in a blink of an eye, they found that ordinary bullets were useless against these puppets.

The bullets hit the puppets and rattled, but these puppets that looked like wood became indestructible because of the blessing of the high-level runes.

This batch of weird puppets was no longer the crude goods that Sullen had made before.

Since the last time he剥離（hakuri: separated/stripped) the soul fragment of the fifth-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) professional, Sullen's understanding of second-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) and third-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) runes and enchantments had jumped beyond most of the "Rune Masters" in Old London.

All the dolls had second-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) enchantments and runes, and some even used third-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) knowledge.

In the field of alchemy, the品阶（hinshoku: quality/grade) division of runes meant威能（inou: might/power). Second-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) and third-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) runes meant second-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) and third-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) attack and defense strength.

Even if they used alchemical bullets, what if they could occasionally penetrate the puppets?

The most powerful thing about puppeteers was that as long as the controller didn't die, all battles were meaningless.

Even if they were被打成（dagashi: broken/destroyed) 残肢断臂（zanshidanbi: dismembered/crippled), the puppets could still kill people!

Just by pulling these silk threads, the first round of gunfire didn't stop them, and these puppets, fearless of death, pounced directly into the crowd like hungry tigers.

The daggers of the puppets had third-階位（kai'i: rank/tier) [Armor Piercing Rune], [Sharp Rune], [Magic Breaking Rune]... how could they be so easy to defend against?

First-tier professionals, except for those heavy-裝職業（sōgyō: armor/equipment) professionals, almost all had a bloody hole in one knife.

In one move, the puppets spread into the crowd, killing with screams.

Moreover, letting the weird puppets get close was the real beginning of the terror!

The most棘手（kyushoku: troublesome/thorny) thing about rune weird puppets was still on the mental power runes themselves.

The [Nightmare Doll] could cause visual and auditory mental迷乱（meiran: confusion/disorder), and once it was within a ten-meter range, the impact would become greater and greater.

If the doll really got close, even second-tier professionals would suffer a big loss.

Unavoidable, they would almost be stabbed to death by the puppet while神情恍惚（jinkei kouro: dazed/distracted).

Sullen's puppet army descended, catching these people off guard.

Soon, the people of the two families discovered this problem.

The commander was shouting hoarsely in the communicator.

"Don't look at the puppet's face, there's a visual illusion!"

"Don't listen..."

"Pull away..."

but,

Knowing is knowing,

What then?

The perception of most professionals relies on vision and hearing to capture targets. If they don't look at the puppets and close their hearing, how can they fight?

This was the棘手（kyushoku: troublesome/thorny)ness of rune weird puppets.

For a time, this group of people deeply experienced the terror of being dominated by rune weird puppets.

The people who had seen this technique before were all dead.

The people who had seen the rune weird puppets were almost all dead.

Now, the people who have seen it are going to die.

.......

And the reason why [Puppet Theater] was strong was that within a certain range, this technique was根本（konpon: fundamentally/essentially) unsolvable!

Where Sullen stood, within a few hundred square meters, he had absolute control.

The weird puppets were controlled as灵活（reikatsu: agile/flexible) as real people, and their clustered attacks made them have no match at all.

However, puppeteers were not without their weaknesses.

The control distance was a big problem.

The people of the two families were almost unable to fight back by the puppet army, and the experienced commander also issued instructions, and退却（taikyaku: retreat).

Sullen watched those guys run far away, and the puppets couldn't catch up.

He didn't bother to waste that energy.

He directly pulled the young master Danze, who was trapped tightly, in front of him, loosened some of the bound silk threads, revealing his head.

Then, Sullen stabbed this guy in the butt with a knife.

This young master Danze also screamed痛（tsū: aching/painful) and配合（haigō: cooperative/sympathetic): "Ah... save me!"

The scream echoed in the prison回廊（kairō: corridor/hallway), lasting for a long time.

ps. There is another chapter, I will send it later.