Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 20 Naval Battle
For some reason, Su Xiang thought of his own time and space, and another group of unwilling and brave dead.

"Miss White Bone, may I name this ship?"

"up to you."

Su Ming activated the white bone mark and engraved two Chinese characters on the bow of the ship: Zhiyuan.

For a fleeting moment, Su Ming felt as if the Zhiyuan had gone a little faster.

Through telepathic connection, Bai Gu also understood the meaning of the two words: "A nice name for a ship, heading towards the distance," she said.

Su Ming wanted to say that Zhiyuan's charm was far more than that, but he realized it was difficult to express, so he gave up.

****
The Pearl Kingdom's warships were arrayed in an arc, dispersed around the outer perimeter of the Emerald Cliff, with the aim of defending all breakout routes from the Bone Fortress. But everything happened too quickly; when the Bone Fortress abruptly transformed into ship form and approached engagement distance at an unbelievable speed, none of the warships had even completed their combat preparations.

The sails had just been raised, the gunpowder in the cannons had just been released, and most of the sleeping sailors had just rushed to their fighting positions in a panic.

In the direction the Bone Fortress was advancing, only three warships were within range of them to attack.

The first ship on the right has used its mages' magic to dodge ramming attacks, temporarily losing its ability to influence the battlefield. The second ship on the left is slowly approaching, and the commander orders the mages to fire a volley.

At this distance in naval warfare, mental targeting becomes meaningless. The gunnery officer of the second ship calculated the lead, and the gunnery captain used a beam spell as a guide to set off the mage squad's attack.

First volley, the Ice Spear!

Although fire spells are more powerful, with the rain pouring down, no one is foolish enough to use them.

With a whoosh, seven long ice spears shot out almost simultaneously, tracing long parabolic arcs and enveloping the Zhiyuan in the middle.

Two spears were intercepted in mid-air by the skeleton's Disintegration spell, shattering into icy blue dust that dissipated. The remaining five spears struck the water's surface around the ship, solidifying into large chunks of floating ice.

Five shots were close to miss, two were on target, and the first salvo resulted in a straddle-shaped firing!
"The enemy is very strong and professional!" Bai Gu told Su Ming solemnly. The second ship had already achieved cross-firing, and what followed would be a continuous and rapid attack.

In the distance behind, towards the Temple of Light camp, the dragon force was not yet fully prepared, but human figures continued to rise into the air, and at least high-ranking priests began to chase after them.

If they cannot quickly create distance, even if Su Ming and Bai Gu manage to escape the naval fleet, they will inevitably be stopped by high-level spellcasters. Moreover, the temple also has several bishops and an archbishop present, making the situation extremely urgent.

Therefore, Su Ming cannot use maneuvering or changing direction to evade.

On the second ship, the gunnery officer adjusted the dispersion and firing angle, and organized everyone to fire again with the lead time they had just taken.

The skeleton watched in surprise as the dense rain of ice spears plunged into the sea behind it, piling up into a large, floating iceberg.

"Su Ming, are we faster now?" She took the goggles handed to her by the skeleton servant, put them on, and finally the raindrops stopped getting into her eyes.

This is the one Su Ming borrowed while working at the hardware store. Bai Gu just had a servant bring it over, otherwise his eyes would hurt quite a bit.

"I don't know, the boiler temperature is too high!" A series of warning lights flashed, and Su Ming quickly checked the engine room. The zombies were crushing wood and adding it to the boiler's fuel tank; everything was as planned. "What's that hull made of?" Su Ming suddenly remembered this.

“Yun Tiemu is a very hard type of wood,” White Bone replied. “It is difficult to ignite, but once it is lit, it burns exceptionally well.”

Is it difficult to ignite?

The high temperature and high pressure of the boiler combustion chamber would make even metals think twice about their ignition point, let alone mere wood.

The reason for the unit overload was that the calorific value of ironwood was much higher than expected, and Su Ming had incorrectly set the fuel input of the boiler!

Just as he was about to reduce the fuel consumption, a faint buzzing sound rose in the boiler room and engine room. The magical gems arranged on the power units began to shine, and sets of protective magic arrays were activated. The parts, which had been slightly deformed due to the immense pressure and high-speed operation, suddenly found support and returned to their original shape.

The cabin fell silent, and the vibration and noise decreased abruptly.

Then the propeller speed increased again, and the speedometer needle began to move toward its upper limit.

This is a protective array that the skeletons set up on the power unit. Originally, they were afraid that the skeleton fortress would damage the unit when it entered the water after being lowered from the sea cliff. However, the buffer structure built by Su Ming was very effective, and the array was not triggered at all—until just now.

"It's 18.5 knots!" Su Ming told Bai Gu while quickly adjusting the machine settings, "You probably don't need to use magic to accelerate the ship anymore."

The enemy's third ship, positioned in another direction, accelerated in parallel direction because its firing angle was blocked by the first ship. It originally intended to prepare for a subsequent pursuit, but found that in the current sea conditions, even if it pushed to its limit, it could not catch up with the Zhiyuan.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” said White Bone. “I actually don’t have the spare capacity to accelerate the Zhiyuan. It’s hard to say whether I can stop the bishop of the Temple of Light.”

"So what was your original plan?" Su Ming asked.

"Originally, I planned to overdraw our resources and squeeze them dry," White Bone replied. "But that would actually damage the White Bone Fortress." As she spoke, she made a slight adjustment to the magic array on the power unit, adding protective spells to the areas that were still making noise. "Now it seems that doing so would be counterproductive; maintaining the Zhiyuan's condition is more worthwhile!"

Su Ming expressed his understanding. He looked at the Pearl Kingdom's second ship with some confusion; it had fallen silent after the second wave of magical ice spears missed, which was inexplicable.

Logically, its artillery should have been ready at this point. The Zhiyuan was within its optimal firing range, so it should have launched a full-scale attack.

On the second ship, the gunnery officer stared blankly at the slide rule and firing table, which showed a maximum speed of 17.9 knots. Their commander had finally accepted that the target, without any magical fluctuations or sails, had already exceeded the limits of their own warships at their peak speed.

He and the commanders of the first and third ships fired blue signal flares one after another, indicating that they were no longer able to intervene in the battlefield.

****
A few minutes later, the Zhiyuan had crossed the interception line of the Pearl Principality Navy, adjusted its course, and began heading towards the open sea.

The speed reached 19 knots. Su Ming finally adjusted all the factors, and the ship sailed quickly and smoothly, even more steadily than the Pearl Duchy's naval warships that were stuck in place during the storm.

Several figures appeared in the air, shielding themselves from the torrential rain with a thin barrier of light, and were rapidly approaching. Behind them, another group could be vaguely discerned.

(End of this chapter)