Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 266 The Design of the Neuro-Swallow
The secretary knocked softly and entered, reminding Havel that the new batch of rotating staff had arrived. As is customary, the headmaster was required to personally greet them.

Havel gestured for his secretary to bring them over. He picked up the written letter, which was enveloped in a magical aura. As he chanted an incantation softly, the words on the letter began to distort and warp.

『Academy Technique: Tortoise Shell and Bird Tracks!』

The originally neat text was immediately disrupted into a jumble of lines, like countless tiny tadpoles swimming on the paper.

Havel sealed the letter. A dozen or so staff members, dressed in the uniforms of priests of various ranks, filed into the office.

The two sides exchanged greetings and pleasantries as usual.

"Salute to the Headmaster!"

"May the light shine upon us!"

"Welcome to the Sea of ​​Divine Grace!"

Javier wore a formulaic smile, but his eyes were taking the opportunity to sized up everyone.

The highest-ranking person among those who came was Archbishop Stanton. He recognized the winged people; they were likely sent to strengthen patrols around the Holy Mountain.

The Dome Mountain Range is freezing cold, with high mountains and strong winds. Ordinary human mages are simply not up to the task of patrolling in such an extreme environment, and must rely on the innate abilities of the Winged Race.

Even among the Winged Clan, Stanton was a top-notch flier.

Havel heard that the archbishop had been having a string of misfortunes lately. He had failed in his pursuit of the Chestnut Owl scholar at the Cliffs of Turquoise, and then failed to arrive in time for the Battle of the Agate Sea. He had tried to get revenge in the Sea Monster incident, but had a falling out with the Merchants' Guild.

These rumors must be true, otherwise Stanton wouldn't have been sent to Mount Holy Land to do such hard work.

"Excuse me!" Havel said in a deep voice, and then began to chant an incantation. The multi-detection spell swept over everyone's body like ripples on water.

He carefully verified everyone's identity, confirming that it matched the dispatch letter from headquarters and that no disguise was used.

“Arrange for them to hand over to the staff who are about to go on leave,” Javier instructed his secretary after making sure everything was in order.

****
Havel pulled out the letter he had just written and handed it to his secretary, saying, "Please also deliver this letter to Warden Sabina."

There is a communication array available to the Divine Might Prison, but is it convenient to use communication to discuss purchasing toys?

The secretary accepted the gold-embossed letter sealed with runes with both hands.

“Wait!” Stanton suddenly spoke up. “I was just about to go see Sabina and familiarize myself with the terrain.”

As the archbishop, Stanton needed to make arrangements with the warden, another powerful figure in the Holy Mountain region.

Havel thought about it and decided it was a good idea, so he handed the letter to Stanton.

The spell "Tortoise Shell and Bird Tracks," created by the late scholar known as "Grey Tail," can only be unlocked by knowing the corresponding incantation, and he is not worried about being spied on.

Stanton nodded to Havel and then left the principal's office.

Kamui Prison isn't far from the academy, but you can't just fly there directly. The anti-air barrier of the Eternal Obelisk will actively attack any target flying within a spherical area above the academy.

Stanton was only able to take off after walking through the gates of the Divine Grace Sea. Before long, he arrived above the Divine Might Prison.

Unlike the magnificent and symmetrical Divine Grace Sea, the Divine Might Prison's buildings are not only unevenly distributed, but even the left and right sides of each building are not aligned. It occupies a much smaller area, and its architectural style is more rugged and solid.

To prevent escapes, the prisons were all built deep underground, and the buildings on the surface were only for the use of the prison guards and were not many in number.

The most eye-catching of them all is the defensive magical artifact, the "Holy Antelope Horn," which is smaller than the "Eternal Obelisk" of the Divine Grace Sea. It is not placed in the central square of the complex, but rather stuck in a spot far from the center, as if it had been casually discarded there.

Stanton examined it closely and found that the "Holy Antelope Horn" was indeed crooked. The runes engraved on it were not symmetrical at all, and the density of the runes on the left and right sides was inconsistent. One side was densely packed like ants carrying food, while the other side was so sparse that large areas of blank space could be seen.

"As expected of 'Neurotic Swallow's' work," Stanton thought to himself.

He sighed, thinking that it must have been quite a challenge for the namer to come up with something as crooked as an antelope horn.

****
Youth Civilization Model Unit, Workshop.

Su Ming continued working on the list, this time he caught the busy Newman and consulted him about the defense systems of the Divine Might Prison and the Divine Grace Sea.

“The magical defense device here in the Divine Might Prison is called the ‘Holy Antelope Horn.’” On the terrain model of the Holy Mountain, Newman inserted a wooden strip diagonally into the corresponding position. “Although its overall size is only one-tenth of the ‘Eternal Hope Obelisk’ in the Divine Grace Sea, the horn’s protected area is much smaller. Moreover, due to some special designs, its actual strength is actually higher.”

Su Ming raised an eyebrow and pointed to the wooden strip that was clearly off-center. "Is this another one of your 'asymmetry is beauty' design concepts?"

“Hehe!” Newman grinned. “This is the slope of a mountain range, where there are strong winds all year round.”

He quickly sketched a diagram on paper, showing the shape of the 'Holy Antelope Horn' shield when deployed—like an egg that had been bitten in the side.

“The Dome Mountains block the winds from the north of the Divine Prison, but in the summer and autumn, the warm and humid air currents from the south are exceptionally strong,” Newman explained. “The shield of the ‘Holy Antelope Horn’ is a hyperbolic streamlined shape with extremely high aerodynamic adaptability. Even under level 10 wind pressure, the energy field shape can remain stable.”

He continued drawing a diagram of the airflow dynamics, intending to further explain the derivation formulas of the functions within, but Su Ming stopped him.

"Let's get straight to the point about the magic defense system's weaknesses." Su Ming skipped over irrelevant details and went straight to the heart of the matter: "How do we break through it?"

Newman reluctantly put down his pen. "As for the 'Eternal Obelisk,' if we choose a day with a strong southerly wind, many distorted flaws will appear on its semi-circular shield."

That's feasible; even in winter, the Dome Mountains often experience southerly winds.

Su Ming nodded, "Our second phase of attack targets the Divine Might Prison, and the third phase is the Divine Grace Sea—we must first break through the 'Holy Antelope Horn'."

“That makes things difficult.” Newman thought for a moment. “I didn’t leave any obvious weaknesses in the construction of ‘Holy Antelope Horn’.”

"Then what about the less obvious weaknesses?" Su Ming pressed.

Newman marked three locations on the paper in one go: "This large shield system is composed of dozens of subsystems stacked together, and the strength distribution is not uniform—these three are its weakest points, with only 75% of the standard value."

“Your quantity is much smaller than the standard design,” Zijin said with some surprise. “The degree of flaws is also very minor.”

“Of course!” Newman exclaimed smugly. “I used a non-uniform staggered distribution technique to improve overall stress intensity and efficiency, eliminating most blind spots.” He suddenly changed the subject, “But this also brings a drawback: if you simultaneously apply high-intensity attacks to these three points,” he said, making an explosion gesture with his fist, “the entire system will collapse!”

This was a point that could be exploited, so Su Ming immediately asked, "Does the Temple of Light know about this?" "Absolutely not!" Newman replied confidently.

“The runes he engraved on the horn were all out of order.” Violet rubbed her temples. “Those tens of thousands of crooked runes, no one even bothered to calculate them carefully—and even if they did, they probably wouldn’t be able to count them all!”

“If I don’t tell anyone, no one will be able to find these flaws.” Newman grinned smugly. “If they remain unknown, the ‘Holy Antelope Horn’ system is perfect!”

That's a unique way to hide flaws.

Su Ming pondered the tactical arrangements. Once the first phase of the battle began, Shenwei Prison would definitely deploy its shield immediately.

"Why don't you use infiltration?" Newman asked, puzzled. "Or perhaps launch the first attack before 'Holy Antelope Horn' is deployed, and take it down?"

“The infiltration and the first wave of attack left us with another, more important target,” Su Ming explained. “We’ve lured the Radiant Singers here.”

"Hector Hector, the choir?" Newman's soul fire jolted. "You really aren't afraid of things getting out of hand!"

“From the perspective of attacking the Divine Prison, this greatly increases the difficulty.” Zi Jin leaned back in her chair and swayed gently. “But from a strategic point of view, taking advantage of the enemy’s lack of vigilance towards us to lure Hector out of the Glorious Holy City and annihilate him on the Holy Mountain would be very profitable!”

"That's the line of thinking," Su Ming said. "It's impossible for us to have a peaceful resolution with the Cardinal Council of the Temple of Light. So we can't let this opportunity to cut off a finger slip by!"

“You didn’t just lose a finger,” Newman corrected, “you cut off an entire hand!” He then scanned the two men before him again. “You’re impressive. What’s the name of our new organization?”

This topic is a bit off-topic.

Su Ming looked at Zi Jin, who was also looking back at him. The two of them had never discussed this before.

Although it hasn't been officially put on the table, judging from the current situation, it's already a done deal.

"I haven't thought about it yet." Su Ming brought the topic back. "What exactly do you mean by the 'high-intensity attack' you mentioned that can shatter the shield's flaws?" He added, "I meant the power of an explosive detonation, not a magical attack!"

Newman paused. Converting magic into explosive equivalent was obviously not so easy, and the type of explosion and the impact distance needed to be considered.

But Newman quickly came up with a solution. He went outside the workshop and swiftly set up a small magic circle. Once activated, a mango-shaped white defensive shield, several meters square, lit up.

“This is equivalent to one-thousandth the strength of the ‘Holy Antelope Horn’,” Newman announced. “You can test it to your heart’s content!”

"Excellent!" Su Ming exclaimed sincerely.

****
Above the Divine Might Prison.

Stanton slowed his flight. He took out the letter and found it had been encrypted by Havel using the "Tortoise Shell and Bird Tracks" spell.

"You dare to show off a spell invented by Sister Chloe?" he muttered contemptuously, then quickly broke the spell, and the disordered tadpoles swiftly returned to clear characters.

Stanton sifted through the envelope and quickly read its contents: Potatoes were in short supply, and Javier wanted Sabina to contact other suppliers. The addresses and names of three suppliers were attached.

“Potatoes? Well done!” Stanton gritted his teeth. He memorized the contents and restored the encryption of the 'Tortoise Shell and Bird Tracks'.

Stanton landed quickly at the entrance of the Divine Might Prison. After passing through the guards' check, he entered through the main gate. With his legitimate identity, he did not need to announce himself and went straight to the main building, arriving at Warden Sabina's office.

Upon their first meeting, they exchanged brief pleasantries. Stanton then handed Sabina the principal's letter.

"Your addition will improve our early warning capabilities, and the defenses of the Divine Prison will be even more robust!" Sabina smiled. "It's just that the Holy Mountain is freezing cold, so Archbishop Stanton will have to work hard from now on!"

"To defend the Holy Light and purify the world of filth is our inescapable duty!" Stanton replied resolutely.

"May the glory of God shine forever upon this vast earth!" Sabina prayed devoutly.

As Stanton left the warden's office, a female priestess of the Feather Clan approached and bowed to him.

“Mr. Stanton, I’ll take you to your dormitory.”

Stanton nodded.

As the two left the main building side by side, Stanton noticed an inconspicuous black building on his left.

“That’s the entrance to the forbidden sanctuary,” Yuya explained.

"A forbidden secret place?" Stanton glanced at it a few more times, then quickly confirmed, "Isn't it just a dungeon for holding prisoners?"

Yuya gestured for him to turn around. Stanton turned around and saw the words "Dawn's Anvil" prominently displayed on the warden's office building he had just left.

"What a pretentious name," Stanton scoffed.

“The name doesn’t matter,” Yuya sighed. “It’s just that the architecture here is so asymmetrical. The buildings above ground are fine, but as soon as I entered the dungeon, I got completely disoriented.”

"I brought a map," Stanton said in a low voice, using a encryption method unique to the Feathered Clan.

Is a regular map useful here?

[This isn't an ordinary map.] Stanton smiled. [It's the most authentic map ever created—from the original designer!]

****
In the sheltered valley workshop, Su Ming frowned as he examined the crooked blueprints of the Divine Might Prison dungeon that Newman had taken out.

Symmetry is the least of the issues here—almost every room is an irregular polygon, with no interior angles that are exactly 90 degrees, and the dimensions are all over the place.

What's even more puzzling is that the layout of each floor is completely different, as if you're playing some kind of brain-teasing jigsaw puzzle.

Upon seeing the blueprint for the first time, Violet refused to attend the meeting and went out to study the miniature version of the "Holy Antelope Horn".

"Why would the Temple of Light allow you to use such an inhumane design?" Su Ming couldn't help but ask.

“This was done with careful technical considerations,” Newman explained. “Being located in a mountainous area, I used a special multi-layered interlocking structure to significantly reduce the risk of foundation slippage. These buildings have been standing for twenty years, and not a single settlement crack has appeared so far.”

"Are there risks of subsidence in the buildings over at Shenen Sea?" Su Ming asked.

“No, not at all,” Newman replied. “But the budget per unit area of ​​the Divine Grace Sea is more than three times that of the Divine Might Prison—those old men of the Divine Covenant are willing to give up anything for their family’s descendants.”

(End of this chapter)