Firepower Projection

The results of the second high-precision SAR scan were much clearer and more transparent. The enemy's camouflage and snow cover were penetrated, and the artillery and concealed personnel below were clearly visible.

The little Tuanzi fell asleep, and Younier 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.

Younier was very meticulous in her work; she double-checked the surrounding terrain 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," Younier replied.

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

"Hansite told me about his experiences in the Northern Lands," Younier replied. "Those lords and their armies are utterly despicable!"

Surprised that Hansite would even try to persuade people, Su Ming chuckled, "Your family is also considered a minor lord on Brown Gold Island, belonging to the nobility, right?"

"No noble family would have such a scoundrel!" Younier declared resolutely.

****

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

Su Ming asked Zijin, "How is your Magic Power power?"

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

"It's alright, about halfway done," Zijin replied. "The upgraded White Bone Mark is great for Magic Power recovery, but my spirit isn't keeping up."

"Thank you for your hard work," Su Ming said. "Take it easy on me later, as the battle situation may allow; we might have to fight another match."

"Yeah. It's good that it's over soon. Supporting a large number of skeletons for a long time is very stressful," Zijin 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 Celestial Gold?" Su Ming said. "Aren't you worried?"

After Su Ming took away Celestial Gold and the Magic Crystal Core last time, after "friendly" negotiation, the two compromised. Su Ming returned Celestial Gold to Zijin to use as a mattress, and Zijin also gave up using the Magic Crystal Core as a pillow.

"Not at all!" Zijin said firmly, "Sleeping on a piece of Celestial Gold is every dragon's ultimate dream!"

"You dragons have such pure thoughts."

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

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!" Zijin chuckled.

****

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

The Gospel began as instructed, and Hansite picked up his binoculars to keep watch ahead.

After being stagnant for more than an hour, the Youth Civilization finally awoke. Its cylinders spewed out multicolored mist, emitting a dull metallic clanging sound, before gradually accelerating. The white train, like a giant beast, crushed the wind and snow 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 row, their thin, fearless, pale White Bone 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, making it easier to operate the locomotive's various functions. Even when folded up, these things took up a lot of space, let alone when fully deployed.

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

A dozen minutes later, the Youth Civilization 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 and pointing 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 self-tested 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.

Zijin 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.

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 White Bone Mark and the support of Su Ming's Soul Capacity allowed her to perform these unimaginable operations.

The enormous bone dragon rose from the top of the carriage, its sinister and majestic gaze sweeping over the battlefield. "Hey Zijin, fold your wings, you're blocking my line of fire," Su Ming interrupted inappropriately.

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

"Ready to go!"

Su Ming 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 fire. The blazing white tail flame illuminated the surrounding area for hundreds of meters, and the snow under the launch pad instantly vaporized into white mist. Ten rockets quickly left the barrel, drawing orange-red trajectories in the night sky and heading in different directions.

Immediately following, a second volley of rockets launched, their exhaust flames once again illuminating the night sky. Subsequent batches of rockets followed in quick succession, piercing the air.

Join this symphony of death. The smoke from the burning propellant forms a billowing wall of smoke near the carriages.

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

****

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 ability to assess the situation nor the courage to fight to the death. The high-ranking officers, after the initial panic, also came to their senses. They had no choice but to pretend nothing was wrong and organize their men to bravely fight back.

Jimite's second echelon chose to give way and ordered them to intercept and hold their ground. Fyodor quickly understood the tactical intentions. He set 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 Magic Power fluctuations, further enhancing the concealment effect.

He had arranged to plant high-yield bombs as a substitute along the route the Hundred Bones Train was bound to take. When the Hundred Bones Train passed in front of the position, he would seize the opportunity to launch an artillery ambush. If the enemy accelerated their escape, 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 White Bone Train came into view just as night fell; this behemoth clearly knew nothing of fatigue.

When the White Bone Train first stopped, Fyodor was not in a hurry. Although the distance was beyond the range of his own artillery, he was confident that he would not be detected. His purpose was to wait for reinforcements to encircle the enemy, and the fact that the enemy was not advancing 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. Jimite's second wave of reinforcements won't arrive until tomorrow morning, and until then, he must carefully maintain his hold.

However, things didn't go as planned, and the Youth Civilization started up again not long after. This time, it came to a steady stop at the edge of the artillery's firing range, still 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. He couldn't move his position, nor could he launch a preemptive attack. His mere few hundred soldiers and a few dozen mages would be like throwing eggs against rocks if they charged. The fate of his two thousand elite vanguard regiment was already before his eyes.

He could only pray that the enemy lacked effective means of attack at this distance. If the White 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 cannons!"

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

Amidst a deafening roar, the halos of light on the snow intertwined and expanded outwards, revealing eerie layers in the night sky. 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 position.

Fyodor immediately realized. "It's a rocket! Intercept it!"

He'd seen this thing before; halflings loved using it, and the Star Empire also had a small number of troops equipped with it. It was very inaccurate, its trajectory unpredictable.

Improper storage can also easily lead to catastrophic explosion during use.

Even if you manage to hit it squarely, it's easily intercepted by a mage.

The few mages in the third echelon were almost all positioned in front of Fyodor's command post. They quickly cast spells, and countless orbs illuminated the sky above their own side. Fyodor soon noticed something was wrong; the rockets launched by the White Bone Train were flying far too fast!

Unlike the halflings who only advanced in the initial stage and used high-arc trajectories to increase their range, the Hundred Bones Train's rockets accelerated continuously in the air, with low and straight trajectories. Moreover, the enemy launched them quickly and densely, as if they didn't care at all whether they could hit their targets.

This posed a significant challenge to the mages' interception. Only a small number of rockets exploded in the air before the first one hit its target precisely. The defensive shield glowed, blocking the shockwave of the explosion. 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 open 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; they were 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 flash 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 sounds were much quieter—the anti-personnel mines he had arranged to be laid were being triggered.

Fyodor realized: the opposing skeleton army 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 slow-advance barrage tactic—the rockets advanced from their detonation points, with the skeleton soldiers following closely behind. It was like organizing teammates to charge in the game "Hell Let Loose," a tactic he was very familiar with.

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

Those bone claws sink into the snow far too easily!

This matter is essentially Zijin's responsibility. A normal necromancer would modify the structure, such as deforming the foot plates to be wider. Even if there are more, it can be done by consuming extra mental energy. But Zijin is the abnormal type. Her necromancer summoning is impeccable in scale and energy intensity, but she only has the original model summoning as her sole option.

If one insists on mentioning another possibility, it would be that the bone-rubbing ball is truly a "zero-modeling-foundation necromancer," 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 in the middle of the skull, taking away a portion of the friendly forces.

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

The angle of the explosives 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 10th launcher of the Youth Civilization were all fired, the results were lower than expected. The Skull Echelon failed to follow up in time, and by the time they finally rushed to 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 formations for resistance. Whether heavy infantry or artillery, they had all received basic tactical training. As a result, when the first wave of skeleton soldiers charged, they were unable to break through for a while. The battle line was stabilized, stalemated, 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 units were available on the battlefield, the struggles of the lower-ranking combatants would merely add to the drama.

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 among the enemies.

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 support-type spellcasters, originally part of the heavy forces. After several were killed by the bone dragon's aerial attacks, the rest scattered and fled in panic.

There was no longer any thought of 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—the pungent odor of propellant, quenched steel, and ionized air.

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

Su Ming didn't know 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?] Zijin sent a disgruntled message.

Su Ming immediately turned his attention back to the battlefield, only to discover that a powerful Magister 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, Zijin was temporarily at a disadvantage.

Su Ming quickly activated his flight spell and rushed towards the target. [Your current form doesn't seem suitable for one-on-one combat?]

[Of course.] Zijin 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 Scourge.]

Zijin can use all six types 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 Ailisha form or being imprisoned in the Tower of White Bone.

Therefore, dark magic is the type of magic she has mastered the least systematically. In her Bone Dragon Form, she can easily bully Low Rank opponents in groups, but when she encounters powerful experts, her shortcomings become apparent.

****

Due to the Magister's interference, chaos began to emerge in the pursuit below, and some soldiers who had been surrounded managed to break through.

Seeing Su Ming approach, the opponent began to shift positions, moving away 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 interfere with Zijin.

[You'll need to spend more time correcting your imbalance in academic performance in the future.] Su Ming said.

He approached Zijin's side, and the Magister quickly retreated, but remained hovering on the perimeter, his movements fluid and effortless.

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

"[Birdman?] "Su Ming frowned.

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

Su Ming's birdmen refer to the Race of Tayans, whose formal name is the Feather Race. The Feather Race is an indigenous human race from 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 assigned to a combat unit," he analyzed. "So he must have come from the Second Legion."

Zijin clearly agreed with this analysis, [that his current harassment of us is also an attempt to gather intelligence on us.]

Seeing that Zijin and Su Ming were helpless against him, the Feather Race Magister 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 a large number 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 Ailisha form.]" Zijin said.

[There's no need. Ailisha form shouldn't engage in intense combat during this time.] Su Ming stopped her, as her human body hadn't recovered from the backlash damage from the last time.

Moreover, if Zijin changes form, the Feather Race Magister will definitely flee immediately, and she may not be able to catch up.

Seeing that the two were helpless, the Feather Race mage intensified his efforts, attempting to bypass them and head towards the White Bone Train. This completely enraged Su Ming.

He abandoned his shotgun and ammunition, activated the flight crystal with all his might, and gave chase.

[Su Ming, don't get carried away!] Zijin couldn't stray too far from the main battlefield because of the three-way command, and seeing Su Ming starting to fall behind, she thought, [You can't handle it alone!]

I'm confident I can solve it!

Su Ming chased after him for a while, Feather Race mage, confirming that Zijin 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 Feather Race made the first move, sending over a dozen fireballs hurtling towards them with a probing intent. Su Ming drew his whip-like weapon, imbued with "Elemental Fade," and shattered all of their attacks in mid-air.

Then Su Ming combined the thorn-like whips into a staff, retaliating with more than a dozen magic orbs that floated towards the opponent.