Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 197 Firepower Projection
The second high-precision SAR scan yielded even clearer and more detailed images. The enemy's camouflage and snow cover were penetrated, and the artillery and concealed personnel below were clearly visible.

The little dumpling fell asleep, and Yunier came over to help. She and Su Ming marked each item one by one, checking the size of the enemy forces and the quantity of their equipment to confirm that it matched the intelligence.

Yunier was very meticulous in her work; she checked the surrounding terrain again to make sure nothing was missed.

"Have you done these things?" Su Ming asked curiously.

“It’s essentially no different from clearing out a coal mine,” Yunier replied.

Noticing that the girl seemed less flustered and afraid, and even more resolute, Su Ming curiously asked her why.

“Hansit told me about his experiences in the North,” Yunier replied. “Those lords and their armies are utterly despicable!”

Unexpectedly, Hanster would do ideological work. Su Ming chuckled and said, "Your family is also a minor lord on Browngold Island, so you're both nobles, right?"

“No noble family would have such a scoundrel!” Yunier declared resolutely.

****
With everything ready, Yunier began a pre-departure inspection of the equipment.

Su Ming asked Zi Jin, "How is your magical power?"

The soldiers from the other world were all low-level combatants, and with their skills and teamwork, they were stronger than the skeleton soldiers. The second phase of the raid on the vanguard was able to proceed so smoothly because Violet used wide-range magic to amplify the skeletons and weaken the enemy, which resulted in huge losses.

"It's alright, about halfway done," Violet replied. "The upgraded Bone Mark is great for restoring magic power, but my spirit is lagging behind."

"Thank you for your hard work," Su Ming said. "Take it easy on the battlefield later, as we may have to fight another battle."

"Yeah. It's good that it's over soon. Supporting a large number of skeletons for a long time is very stressful," Violet said. "I really envy you. I feel terrible when I'm exhausted. I'll probably sleep very soundly tonight."

"Hey, can you stop sleeping on that golden bed?" Su Ming said. "Isn't it uncomfortable?"

After Su Ming took away Chen Jin and the magic crystal core last time, after "friendly" negotiation, the two compromised. Su Ming returned Chen Jin to Zi Jin to use as a mattress, and Zi Jin also gave up using the magic crystal core as a pillow.

“Not at all!” Violet said firmly. “Sleeping on a piece of golden cinnabar is the ultimate dream of every dragon!”

"You dragons have such pure thoughts."

Zijin whispered to Su Ming the current market price of those Chenjin.

Su Ming's eyes widened in shock. The production capacity of the other world for a year and a half, coupled with the high prices caused by the rush to buy, was not to be underestimated.

"Um... can I borrow it to try it out?" he asked shamelessly.

"No way!" Violet chuckled.

****
Yunier reported that the equipment inspection was complete. "Proceed four kilometers forward," Su Ming said into the microphone.

The gospel began as instructed, and Hansster picked up his binoculars to keep watch ahead.

After being stalled for over an hour, the Youth Civilization Train finally awoke. White steam billowed from its cylinders, accompanied by a dull metallic clanging sound, before it gradually accelerated. The white train, like a colossal beast, crushed the snow and wind in the night.

Ahead, the scouting skeleton soldiers continued their advance in dense formation, their skeletal feet sinking deep into the snow with a soft "crunch." They stood in a close-knit row, their thin, fearless, pale white skeletons mechanically probing for any potential traps.

Su Ming stood in the driver's cab of the No. 1 steam locomotive, gazing ahead. The current Gospel Statue now had six long, narrow mechanical arms attached to its back, facilitating the operation of the locomotive's various mechanisms. Even when folded up, these arms took up a lot of space, let alone when deployed.

The driver's cab of the steam locomotive was already cramped, and now it was even more crowded. Su Ming had to house his various monitoring and control equipment in the driver's cab of locomotive number two, which caused inconvenience.

A dozen minutes later, the Youth Civilization train arrived at its designated location. Su Ming returned to the No. 2 driver's cab and deployed carriages eight through twelfth, revealing ten long, black metal launch tubes. The base rose, and a set of forty 122mm launch tubes slowly raised their heads on hydraulic supports, rotating to point in different directions.

A large number of supporting devices in the background were activated, and the entire system was powered on. Ground positioning base stations were deployed, radar mapping systems were started, rockets were powered on and performed self-tests in groups, and positioning and navigation systems were gradually put online.

On the screen in front of Su Ming, green dots representing normal operation filled ten groups of graphical interfaces, totaling 400 emission points. There were also eight or nine red dots representing malfunctions, which Su Ming masked.

Based on the previous SAR scan results, Su Ming began to group the rockets and set their impact points.

Violet wasn't idle either; all the skeleton soldiers she had taken in during the day climbed down from the carriages and lined up on the left side of the Youth Civilization train.

On the roof of the carriage, the bone dragon spread its wings. Dark green ripples flashed, and a ghostly light clung to the skeleton soldiers, filling them with energy and making their soul fires brighter. The abundant supply of new bone imprints and the support of Su Ming's spiritual countenance allowed her to perform these unimaginable operations.

A massive skeletal dragon rose from the top of the carriage, its sinister and majestic gaze sweeping over the battlefield—

"Hey, Violet, fold your wings, you're blocking my field of vision," Su Ming interrupted untimely.

Miss Bone Dragon looked very resentful, gave a cold snort, and reluctantly lay back down.

"Ready to go, begin!"

Su Mingdao said, while simultaneously pressing the "fire extinguishing" activation button.

Suddenly, the leftmost launch tube in the first row of each platform emitted a three-meter-long tongue of flame. The incandescent white exhaust illuminated the surrounding area for hundreds of meters, and the snow beneath the launch pad instantly vaporized into white mist. Ten rockets swiftly left the barrel, tracing orange-red ballistic paths across the night sky, heading in different directions.

Immediately following, a second volley of rockets launched, their exhaust flames once again illuminating the recently darkened night sky. Subsequent waves of rockets followed, joining this symphony of death. The smoke from the burning propellant formed billowing clouds near the carriages.

Once the firing of a group in one direction is completed, the hydraulic system activates, and the launch platform rotates to a new firing angle under system control, continuing its thunderous barrage.

****
The moment Overseer Fyodor saw the flames, he knew something terrible was about to happen.

When news first arrived that the vanguard regiment had been ambushed and had been routed, panic spread among the officers. The vanguard regiment was the most capable unit in the entire corps, and although the specific details were unclear, its easy defeat meant that the enemy was stronger and more terrifying than anticipated.

Overseeing the wavering morale of his troops, Governor Fyodor issued a strict gag order, prohibiting any news from reaching the middle and lower ranks. He possessed neither the judgment to assess the situation nor the courage to fight to the death. The high-ranking officers, too, eventually realized the situation amidst the initial panic. They had no choice but to feign indifference and organize their men to bravely confront the enemy.

Dimitri's second echelon chose to give way and ordered them to intercept and hold their ground. Fyodor quickly grasped the tactical intent, setting up an ambush position on the flank, concealing it with snow and camouflage cloth, and carefully hiding it.

He ordered the mage squad to set up auxiliary magic arrays to eliminate the movement of personnel and magical fluctuations, further enhancing the concealment effect.

He had planted high-yield bombs as a substitute along the path the Bone Train was bound to take. When the Bone Train passed in front of the position, he would launch an artillery ambush. If the enemy sped away, they would enter the minefield.

In case of any unforeseen circumstances, the position can still be defended; the worst outcome would simply be letting the enemy escape.

With ample engineering troops and supplies gathered for a major battle, Fyodor easily accomplished everything perfectly, completing the entire deployment during the day.

Fortunately, the Bone Train came into view just as night fell, and this behemoth clearly knew nothing of fatigue.

When the Bone Train first stopped, Fyodor was not in a hurry. Although the distance was beyond the range of his own artillery, he was confident he wouldn't be detected. His objective was to wait for reinforcements to encircle them, and the enemy's stagnation was actually a good thing.

As night deepened, he even ordered his soldiers to take turns resting.

This test of patience has only just begun, and he hopes the enemy will waste more time. Dimitri's second wave of reinforcements won't arrive until tomorrow morning; until then, he must carefully maintain his hold.

However, things didn't go as planned, and the Youth Civilization Unit started up again not long after. This time, it came to a steady stop at the edge of the artillery's firing range, several hundred meters away from the landmines.

Fyodor's heart skipped a beat: Had he been discovered?

The first stop could be understood as a prediction made by the other side based on intelligence and terrain. However, the second stop's location was so subtle that it seemed too coincidental.

But Fyodor was helpless. The position couldn't be moved, nor could he launch a preemptive attack. His mere few hundred soldiers and a few dozen mages charging forward would be futile. The fate of his two thousand elite vanguard troops was imminent.

He could only pray that the enemy lacked effective means of attack at this distance. If the bone train had moved a little further forward, their artillery, ready to fire at any moment, could have overwhelmed the enemy with a barrage of firepower.

****
From the darkness, a strange voice rang out: "God says, fire the cannon!"

The location of the bone train suddenly brightened, and ten orange lights rose up. Then ten more appeared, one group after another, continuously.

With a deafening roar, the halos of light on the snow intertwined and expanded, giving the night sky an eerie layered appearance. The lingering smoke from the launch wriggled and spread. The bright spots that had already taken off accelerated faster and faster, their trails of flame forming a burning spiderweb, hurtling straight toward their own lines.

Fyodor immediately realized: "It's a rocket! Intercept it!" He had seen these before; halflings loved to use them, and the Star Empire also had a small number of troops equipped with them. These things were very inaccurate, their impact points were unpredictable, and they were prone to self-destruction if not stored properly.

Even if you hit it squarely, it's easy to get intercepted by a mage.

The few mages in the third echelon were almost entirely positioned in front of Fyodor's command post. They quickly cast spells, countless orbs illuminating the sky above their own territory. Fyodor soon noticed something was wrong; the rockets launched by the Bone Train were traveling incredibly fast!
Unlike the halflings who only advanced in the initial stage and used high-arc trajectories to increase their range, the White Bone Train's rockets accelerated continuously in the air, with low and straight trajectories. Moreover, the enemy launched them quickly and densely, seemingly without any concern for whether they would hit their targets.

This posed a significant challenge to the mages' interception. Only a small number exploded in the air before the first rocket accurately hit its target. The defensive shield glowed, blocking the shockwave. But then another rocket struck the same spot and exploded again.

And then another one.

Within seconds, multiple rockets exploded in succession at the same location, eventually tearing a gap in the protective shield. Subsequent rockets poured in, trailing orange flames, as if they were alive, rushing towards the most densely populated area, releasing deathly fireworks.

Other rockets were clearly targeting the artillery positions, lined up in neat rows, taking turns pointing at the targets. Half of them weren't even aimed at the artillery pieces themselves, but rather at nearby ammunition piles.

A burst of light appeared, followed by a deafening explosion, with artillery parts and human remains flying through the smoke and dust.

Fyodor was dumbfounded. What kind of precision was this?!
A series of sporadic explosions came from the front of the position, but the sound was much quieter—the anti-personnel mines he had arranged to be laid had been triggered.

Fyodor realized: the skeleton army opposite them had launched a charge. He didn't put up a futile resistance; he turned and fled with his personal guards.

Unfortunately, it was too late; six rockets landed nearby in succession, engulfing it.

****
Su Ming employed a gradual barrage tactic—the rockets' explosions advanced forward, with the skeleton soldiers following closely behind. It was like organizing his teammates to charge in the game *Hell on Earth*; he was very familiar with this.

However, the ideal was far from reality. Su Ming underestimated the obstacles the snow would pose to the skeletons' march. The enemy's position was on slightly uphill terrain, and the accumulated snow severely slowed the skeletons' advance.

Those bone claws sink into the snow far too easily!

This matter was essentially Violet's responsibility. A normal necromancer would modify the skeleton's structure, such as deforming it to have wider foot plates. Even if there were more skeletons, it could be done by consuming extra mental energy. But Violet was the abnormal type. Her necromancy was impeccable in scale and energy intensity, yet she only had the option of summoning from the original model.

If we had to name another type, it would be the bone-rubbing ball.

"It's really like becoming a necromancer with zero modeling experience," Su Ming lamented inwardly.

The rockets also malfunctioned. Some rockets veered significantly off course after launch and failed to hit their intended targets. Some even went out of control, spinning and exploding in mid-air. Worse still, two rockets embedded themselves among the skulls, wiping out a significant portion of the friendly forces.

"The propellant loading quality is substandard." Violet clearly realized where the problem lay, after all, it was she and Hanster who led a group of zombies to do the work "manually".

The angle of the explosive is fine for general purposes, but it's not suitable for propulsion because the stability and uniformity of the alchemical explosives they make are substandard.

"We need to improve the process, add quality inspection steps, and establish a quality control system," Su Ming said. These are standard requirements in Earth's industrial chain, but in this other world, we have to build them up from scratch.

****
In short, when the 400 rockets on the Youth Civilization Unit's ten launchers were all fired, the results were lower than expected. The Skull Echelon failed to keep up in time, and by the time they finally reached the front line, the enemy soldiers had barely recovered from their initial shock.

A gap appeared in the high-intensity attack, and the battlefield fell into an eerie silence. No one was a fool. Although everyone in the noble army wanted to escape, facing thousands of swarming skeletons, fleeing without a fight would be tantamount to suicide.

To survive, frontline officers risked everything to organize their soldiers into defensive formations. Both supply troops and artillery had received basic tactical training. As a result, the first wave of skeleton soldiers couldn't break through immediately. The battle line was held, a stalemate ensued, and even pushed back. The lack of individual combat strength was the weakness of these undead cannon fodder.

But this was just a temporary resurgence. Once enough corpses appeared on the battlefield, the struggles of the lower-ranking soldiers were merely for entertainment.

A pristine white bone dragon descended from the sky, its dark light spreading like ripples. Beside the craters created by rockets and around the detonated artillery positions, countless new skeleton warriors rose from the blurred flesh and blood, their bones grinding together with a teeth-grinding "crunch," appearing amidst the enemy.

In an instant, the previously advantageous battle line completely collapsed. All the soldiers ignored the officers' shouts and turned to flee.

The enemy mages were already airborne in the first wave of rockets, and most survived the explosions. However, many of them were logistical spellcasters, originally part of the supply corps. After several were killed by the bone dragon's aerial attacks, the remaining mages scattered and fled in panic, offering no further resistance.

With the situation settled, Su Ming breathed a sigh of relief. He put on his coat, picked up his weapon, and jumped off the train.

Around the launch pad for the fire-fighting rockets, melted snow re-condensed into glistening icicles on the steel frame. A peculiar acrid smell permeated the air—a pungent odor of propellant, hardened steel, and ionized air.

Besides the faulty ammunition discovered during the initial self-check, several duds also appeared during firing. Su Ming instructed Hanster to direct the zombies to remove the duds and drag them nearby to detonate them. After clearing the launcher in this manner, they began loading new ammunition.

Su Ming had no idea what the professional procedures should be. Possessing brave and fearless zombie warriors, he could disregard rules and regulations and take the simplest approach.

[Su Ming, why aren't you helping?] Zi Jin sent a message expressing her dissatisfaction.

Su Ming immediately turned his attention back to the battlefield, only to discover that a powerful mage had appeared on the enemy's side. Because she had to concentrate on controlling the skeleton army and diverting her magic power to maintain the front line, Zi Jin was temporarily at a disadvantage.

Su Ming quickly activated his flight spell and headed straight for it. [Your current form doesn't seem suitable for one-on-one combat?]

"Of course." Violet slapped her opponent away with her bone claw, but the opponent's shield only wavered, and they quickly regained their footing a short distance away. "I've learned very few dark-type dueling spells; my only high-level spell is Undead Cataclysm."

Violet can use all six elements of magic, but at the cost of spending more time learning. She is a quick learner, but after transforming into a bone dragon and gaining dark magic abilities, she spends most of her time either studying in the Temple of Light in her Elisa form or being imprisoned in the Tower of Bones.

Therefore, dark magic is the type of magic she has mastered the least systematically. In her bone dragon form, she can easily bully low- to mid-level opponents in groups, but when she encounters powerful experts, her shortcomings are exposed.

****
Disruption by the mage caused the chase below to descend into chaos, and some soldiers who had been surrounded managed to break through.

Seeing Su Ming approach, the opponent began to maneuver, deviating from the direction Su Ming was coming from, preparing to escape at any moment. However, they still maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far, using magical attacks to distract Zi Jin.

"You'll need to spend more time correcting your imbalance in academic performance," Su Ming said.

He approached Violet's side, and the archmage quickly retreated. Yet he remained circling on the periphery, his movements fluid and effortless.

"I never imagined you'd elevate the Bone Mark to this level," Violet said. She threw out a string of corrosive orbs, all of which were nimbly dodged by her. "A happy problem—and this fly is so annoying!"

"Birdman?" Su Ming frowned.

"Yes," Violet said. "We can't catch up."

Su Ming's "bird people" refers to the Tayya race, officially known as the Feathered Race. The Feathered Race is an indigenous race of another world, whose evolutionary line follows that of birds, giving them a unique advantage in flight.

Archbishop Stanton was one of these types.

Su Ming had no choice but to ignore the other party for the time being. "Such a powerful spellcaster must be attached to a combat unit," he analyzed. "So he must have come from the Second Legion."

Violet clearly agreed with this analysis, stating, "His current harassment is also an attempt to gather intelligence on us."

Seeing that Zi Jin and Su Ming were helpless against him, the winged mage became even bolder. He flew in circles, attacking the skeleton soldiers on the ground from time to time. A simple and precise mud spell could trap large numbers of skeleton warriors.

"It's really like a fly!" Su Ming was getting a little annoyed. The shotgun in his hand didn't have enough range, making it difficult to hit such a nimble aerial target.

"Bear with it for a moment. Once the battlefield is mostly cleared up, I'll switch to Elisa form," said Zi Jin.

"There's no need. Elisa form shouldn't engage in intense combat during this time," Su Ming advised, as her human body hadn't yet recovered from the backlash damage from the previous incident.

Moreover, if Violet changes form, the Feathered Clan mage will definitely flee immediately, and she may not be able to catch up.

Seeing that the two were helpless, the winged mage intensified his efforts, attempting to bypass them and pounce on the bone train. This completely enraged Su Ming. He abandoned his shotgun and ammunition, activated his flight crystal with all his might, and gave chase.

[Su Ming, don't get carried away!] Zi Jin couldn't stray too far from the main battlefield, and seeing Su Ming starting to fall behind, she said, [You can't handle it alone!]

I'm confident I can handle it!

Su Ming chased after him for a while, but the Feather Clan mage, upon confirming that Zi Jin hadn't followed, immediately turned around to confront Su Ming, intending to use the time difference to finish him off.

Su Ming met the attack without hesitation, and both sides cast their spells.

The Feathered Clan struck first, sending over a dozen fireballs hurtling towards them, a probing attack. Su Ming drew his long whip, imbuing it with 'Elemental Fading,' and shattered all of their attacks in mid-air.

Su Ming then combined the thorn whip into a staff, sending over a dozen magic orbs flying towards his opponent.

(End of this chapter)