Free-Range Skeletons (7K)

Looking down from the air, the most densely populated area of fleeing goblins was still the road leading from Pinghe City to the goblin heartland.

A massive Gold Dragon occupied an excellent attack position. He took a deep breath, and his enormous body swooped down with a whooshing sound, his feet sliding into the crowded goblin horde, carving a bloody trench through the flesh.

Then, he twisted his neck, and the dragon breath he had been brewing for so long spewed out like a torrent of lava, instantly turning the goblins in the semi-circular area in front of him into charred remains and ashes.

However, just as the giant dragon finished its breath attack, took a few steps forward, and prepared to flap its wings and ascend into the sky again, boom!!!

A blindingly large fireball suddenly exploded without warning!

The raging flames and shockwaves engulfed the dragon and the undead observer on its back, tearing them, along with dozens of goblins around them, into pieces that flew everywhere!

Where it stood, only a huge, scorched crater remained, still emitting black smoke and heat, along with several large pieces of the dragon's carcass.

"A formidable enemy is attacking?!"

The communication channel erupted instantly. Both the dragon in the sky and the observer on its back tensely scanned their surroundings. They hadn't seen any rocket-like trajectory, so could this deadly attack have come from a Saint Rank being?

Katharine noticed this immediately. She quickly scanned the live feed and concluded, "It's a landmine!"

She issued a stern order, "Attention all units! No landing allowed!"

On the ground, goblins fled for their lives like ants swarming over a collapsing dam. No one realized that a deadly trap lay buried in the soil beneath their feet.

But upon closer examination, the enemy must have set up a mechanism triggered by a heavy weight—a goblin could step over it unharmed, but the dragon could not.

Katharine commanded the dragon not to land, thus avoiding danger, but this could not continue.

The number of times a dragon can unleash its breath is ultimately limited, and there's no need to waste precious bombs at this stage. Besides, dragons vary greatly from one another; not all dragons are adept at breathing fire, and many rely heavily on their sharp teeth and claws for close-quarters combat.

"Immediately send out the strongest dragons!" Katharine decided decisively. "Go find a large, round boulder nearby! The bigger the better!"

At the same time, the staff group in the command center also sprang into action. Laying landmines inevitably requires digging into the ground, which will certainly leave traces.

The road was now a muddy mess, unrecognizable, trampled by countless fleeing soldiers. The staff retrieved the reconnaissance footage left by "Red Pig" from the previous two days and quickly compared and analyzed it.

Soon, they identified several areas on the ground that showed unusual signs of excavation and subtle differences from their surroundings.

The communications team quickly synchronized these suspicious locations with the data of the frontline observers. Meanwhile, the powerful dragons tasked with finding the megaliths began their return.

They followed the guidance, swooping down from the air towards the suspected location, and suddenly releasing their claws as they approached the ground!

Several massive, round boulders crashed down with a deafening roar, their immense momentum carrying them wildly forward along the road, relentlessly crushing the suspicious area with a deafening rumble!

An even more violent explosion shot into the sky! The scorching blast wave, carrying mud, rubble, and countless goblin limbs, hurled high into the blood-red sky!

****

"This—how is this possible?!" Deep within the Dangui Mountain, in the damp underground command center, the old general Luowotan witnessed the shocking scene on the battlefield through the shared vision of his magical pets.

Using landmines to ambush a soaring dragon is an almost impossible task. Too little explosives won't even penetrate the dragon's scales; too much makes large-scale deployment difficult, amounting to nothing more than a drop in the ocean on this vast battlefield.

To ensure a fatal blow, the old general spared no effort. He repeatedly analyzed the escape routes of the Pinghe City defenders, putting himself in the dragon's shoes to figure out their most likely landing spots and preferred angles for diving attacks. Ultimately, he planted a small number of incredibly powerful "Dragon-Slaying Mine" in those areas with the highest probability of failure.

These landmines serve only one purpose: to kill dragons. Their main purpose is to deter them, preventing them from easily landing and wreaking havoc, thus giving the routed soldiers more chances to escape.

However, to his utter surprise, in just a few minutes, the enemy command completed the entire process from discovering the anomaly to countermeasures. They not only identified the location of the landmines but also began "mine clearing" in a brutal yet efficient manner!

General Luowotan's elaborate scheme was seen by his opponent as a clumsy trick that was easily deciphered.

The old goblin felt as if a sliver of his energy had been drained away, and his once unwavering belief began to crumble like a sandcastle.

Is such an enemy—truly something that the goblins can defeat?

****

Dragon Race Frontline Command Post.

The ensuing battle proceeded methodically, like an ice gear.

But this unexpected setback made Katharine realize that the commander on the other side was no pushover. This undoubtedly ruined her anticipated "smashing a weak opponent" experience.

"This child must not be allowed to live!" Katharine thought to herself.

She connected with Su Ming's communicator and briefly reported what had just happened, "How's the preparation for the geothermal bomb going?"

Although the exact identity of the current goblin commander is still unclear, there is a greater than 90% chance that these commanders are hiding in the underground facility on Dangui Mountain, which was discovered yesterday through the clues found in the elm leaf.

At this moment, Su Ming was no longer at the Ruby Base. In the early hours of this morning, before the general offensive was launched, he and Zijin's group quietly boarded the Pansy under the cover of darkness and set sail.

For the next few days, Sapphire Port will remain under the highest level of lockdown. A camouflage ship that looks exactly the same has been placed at the berth where the Pansy was originally docked, to ensure that news of the Pansy's departure is not leaked.

"The thermobaric weapon plan has been cancelled," Su Ming's calm voice came through. "The new plan was sent to you yesterday."

Katharine quickly recalled that such a thing did indeed happen— Su Ming had instructed her to immediately set up a makeshift landing pad on the front lines after capturing Pinghe City in order to launch an attack on Dangui Mountain.

She inquired about it, and the staff group followed up on the order as usual. An engineering team had already arrived at the selected open area and was quickly constructing a temporary runway.

"Next is about ' Red Pig '," Su Ming added. "You can ask her directly for details."

"Understood!" Katharine replied.

****

The makeshift field runway was quickly laid out, and the ground crew that arrived later with their equipment set up on the spot. Shortly afterward, a large, heavy-duty drone landed on the runway, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Ground crew immediately rushed forward with tools and began to quickly dismantle the various reconnaissance equipment on the aircraft.

"Drain the fuel, keep only 10%!" Miao Xin typed rapidly on the keyboard, the command being simultaneously translated to the ground crew captain by the Electricity-Swallowing Beast. "Just enough for me to fly to the target and back!"

The ground crew acted swiftly, and after a series of operations, the drone's weight was pushed to its limit. Next, they painstakingly began to mount an extremely heavy aerial bomb on the drone.

"A payload of 3,000 kilograms—can this thing even fly?" The ground crew leader wiped away a bead of sweat. This payload was absolutely far beyond the limits for an unmanned aerial vehicle.

He looked worriedly at the potholed track; the track conditions weren't very good!

"Find a wind dragon and have it blow some breath to help!" Miao Xin said matter-of-factly. "Idiot!"

"That makes sense!" The ground crew leader slapped his forehead and immediately called for backup via communicator.

Soon, a giant dragon covered in emerald scales descended with a look of confusion.

"It's just dropping a bomb, why don't you just let me do it?" Azure Dragon sized up the drone, his voice laced with pride. "My average bomb-dropping score is 9.4 rings!"

Miao Xin was too lazy to explain; if they couldn't even guarantee a perfect score, it wasn't worth wasting her breath.

"Keep breathing on yourself properly, I'll show you the video later!"

The ground crew quickly completed the final checks. Azure Dragon took a deep breath, his chest surging with powerful wind Magic Power, and then sprayed a strong yet unusually steady stream of air towards the runway.

With the help of magic, the drone's engine roared laboriously as it struggled to take off from the uneven ground. But after taking off, it did not climb higher; instead, it quickly lowered its nose, maintaining a dangerous altitude of only thirty meters above the ground, and sped off to the west.

The destination was only thirty kilometers away, and at full speed, the outline of Dangui Mountain came into view of the drone in just a few minutes.

According to intelligence gathering, there are natural caves inside Dangui Mountain, which are small in size and have extremely winding internal passages. The goblins have clearly carved out the caves, opening up the interior to create a military facility.

Last night, Miao Xin conducted a more comprehensive reconnaissance and discovered that the rock layer covering the cave was over 100 meters thick, exceeding the effective penetration depth of a bunker-buster missile.

This is why Su Ming changed his attack strategy.

Based on the support team's suggestion, they could try to enter the missile through two entrances, maneuver and change course to penetrate the internal chambers and detonate. However, low-angle footage revealed that the goblin-dug entrance was not only narrow but also winding and convoluted, exceeding the missile's maneuverability.

During this process, the infrared thermal imaging equipment captured an inconspicuous hole in the cliff face, from which hot air was billowing out – clearly a ventilation shaft!

Miao Xin sent a small rotary-wing drone to investigate and found that the diameter of the ventilation tunnel was barely enough, but the inside was also winding and tortuous, making it impossible for something like a missile to fly in.

To avoid alerting the enemy, her reconnaissance was not thorough. Experts therefore proposed a bold plan: to use autonomous mobile bombs to carry out the raid!

Thus, today's actions came about.

Miao Xin piloted the drone, which was carrying heavy bombs, flying at high speed, almost skimming the undulating mountainside. The drone was extremely heavy and difficult to control, but this was not the only challenge. This bombing mission not only required precision, but also demanded that the mobile bombs hit the ground at the lowest possible speed to avoid damaging them.

As she approached the target cliff, Miao Xin practically pressed the drone against the valley floor! She calculated the distance perfectly, then pulled the stick back sharply. The drone struggled to trace a labored arc, trudging along like an overloaded mountaineer, dragging the massive bomb beneath its belly as it laboriously climbed upwards.

As the ascent angle became increasingly steep, the drone's ascent speed visibly decreased. When the speed dropped to only a few tens of meters per second, the aircraft suddenly shuddered and entered a dangerous stall zone!

Miao Xin ignored everything else and patiently calculated the trajectory. Only when the plane was no more than twenty meters away from the ventilation opening on the cliff face did she accurately press the bomb release button.

The three-ton bomb, like a stone gently tossed, traced a short parabola and landed precisely in the dark hole, making a soft impact.

As Miao Xin herself often says, accurate shooting is merely a basic requirement for this operation!

With the heavy load removed, the drone's thrust suddenly became abundant. Miao Xin pulled the control stick all the way down, pointing the nose almost vertically towards the sky. Relying on pure thrust, the drone struggled and climbed inch by inch, finally narrowly crossing the edge of the cliff and breaking free from the Abyss of the crash.

Miao Xin quickly switched her gaze to the bomb. The round bomb casing unfolded with a "click," and its entire body transformed into segments like a stick insect, with four sharp mechanical legs popping out from the front and back.

At the rear, a relay antenna popped out and hooked outside the hole to maintain the communication link, and connected to the bomb body via fiber optic cable.

Eight flexible mechanical legs supported the bulky projectile, which, like a steel centipede, twisted back and forth in the narrow and winding ventilation duct, crawling nimbly into the depths.

"No... eight legs? How exactly did Miao Xin operate it?" In the command room of the Pansy, Su Ming, who had been watching the whole thing, couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

And then there's the twisting mechanism on the mechanical body—is this really something a human could do?

He had to admire the Earth support team for devising such a clever tactic. He was even more impressed by Miao Xin for executing it!

****

On the goblin side, alarms blared at all checkpoints as the drones approached. As the command center for the war zone, preventing surprise attacks was of paramount importance.

Several powerful goblin warriors immediately sealed off the main entrance, but found no trace of the intruders. However, the increasingly close sound of metal scraping against stone coming from the ventilation shaft above pointed to the source of the threat.

"The enemy attack is coming from the ventilation shaft!" the goblin shouted hoarsely, realizing what was happening.

Several guards rushed over immediately. In the dim light, they saw a long, thin, and strangely shaped metal object, with eight long, thin, and strange mechanical legs, clicking and clattering as it emerged from the narrow passage above and fell into an empty cavern!

The next second, the metal object twisted violently, emitting a dull cracking sound.

Boom!!!

The entire Dangui Mountain seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand, and it trembled violently! The trees all over the mountain shook wildly, making a tsunami-like crashing sound, and the remaining winter fruits on the branches fell like hailstones onto the thick layer of fallen leaves.

From the gaps at the entrances of various passageways, plumes of grayish-white gunpowder smoke, carrying a strong sulfurous smell, slowly and silently seeped out.

****

As noon approached, Katharine's forces successfully captured another tactical objective for the day: the stronghold of Zhuahe City.

The outcome of the battle was far from certain. Although the goblin garrison deployed a new weapon, the "Scale-Eroding Adhesive Cannon," which explodes in mid-air, spraying a sticky and corrosive gel onto the dragon and causing continuous damage.

However, a comprehensive tactical and strategic deficit cannot be remedied by improvements to one or two weapons. This only resulted in a dozen or so dragons suffering varying degrees of injury.

Katharine methodically arranged for each unit to clear out the remaining enemy forces in the occupied areas, for the echelons to rotate for rest and resupply, for the treatment of the wounded, and for the suppression of the surrounding areas.

It is worth noting that in this battle, only the observers who partnered with the dragons participated in the battle; the main force of the Final Bone Mad Machines Bone Machine Battalion was nowhere to be seen.

Like Su Ming, they all boarded the Pansy. At this moment, they were all busy in the cabin, installing enhanced drive arrays and Magic Power crystals on the Bone Model puppets.

On the cabin floor, stark white skeletal components and gleaming alchemical materials were scattered everywhere.

With a click, Newman completed the first Bone Model modification, and he couldn't wait to test the results.

A path was cleared on the ground, and a staff member took out a stopwatch.

With his command, the eight-legged Bone Model started with a "click," its spider-like limbs rustling across the floor like high-speed spinning spindles, before suddenly darting far away, its speed creating a gust of wind!

"How about it!" Newman looked at Su Ming with a smug expression, "Is this as fast as your 'car' speed over there?"

Su Ming glanced at the data recorded by the staff; the modified Bone Model had reached a speed of 85 kilometers per hour.

"Excellent!" he nodded approvingly.

To be fair, although this speed is only a fraction of the top speed of a car on Earth, it is a military unit capable of moving on any complex terrain, and its counterpart should be tracked tanks.

However, this speed was measured under light load. Once loaded with ammunition and other combat loads, the Bone Model's forward speed drops sharply to 60 km/h.

After all, a single basic load of mortar shells weighs nearly a ton! The poor load-bearing capacity of the Bone Model is thus exposed.

After a moment's thought, Su Ming made a decision, "I'll summon a truck to operate alongside the Bone Model Formation, transporting ammunition to ensure the team's assault speed."

Preliminary reconnaissance indicates that the area they are about to attack has a fairly well-developed road system. Although, given the strength of goblin roads, it's unknown how badly they will be damaged after being driven over them.

But it doesn't matter, since Su Ming won't be needed to repair the road after this.

However, Su Ming felt a bit emotional. When he first transmigrated to this other world, the materials he used for teleportation mainly came from dismantling the truck that came with him and the equipment it was carrying.

Now, Su Ming needs to do the opposite and assemble heavy-duty trucks.

"Fifty Bone Model 55 rockets, that's nearly six tons of ammunition." Newman counted on his bony fingers, roughly calculating, "Can it all be packed?"

"It can fit," Su Ming replied confidently. "If road conditions permit, loading over a hundred tons is not a problem."

In extreme cases, it could double.

Upon hearing this, Zijin was extremely surprised, "The kind of truck you used when you traveled through time—could carry two hundred tons?"

"It's over two hundred tons," Su Ming corrected.

How much of this "surplus" could there be? In the crazy era before Su Ming's hometown, when supervision was not perfect and anything was possible, there was nothing that couldn't be done, only things that people dared not imagine.

"Such a powerful steel behemoth, can it be piloted by just a B-level pilot?" Zijin asked, her tone filled with disbelief.

"That's a B2 driver's license," Su Ming explained. "We need to learn the relevant knowledge, undergo more than a hundred hours of training, and pass a rigorous exam to obtain it."

Upon hearing this, Zijin and Newman fell silent.

Among the Final Bone Mad Machines, even the weakest among those who wield these Bone Model puppets are at the level of a novice mage. They are selected from the one percent of gifted individuals and require at least two years of systematic training to be cultivated.

While Su Ming was still marveling at how a Saint Rank expert like Zijin could continuously unleash a power comparable to four heavy truck engines, little did he know that what was even more terrifying was that an ordinary person on the technological side of this other world could wield a terrifying power equivalent to a quarter of Saint Rank expert after only a short period of training!

This is a complete and utter shock to our understanding, like a reversal of all rules!

****

Although the two cities were successfully captured, the goblins were clearly prepared, and Katharine did not capture any valuable documents or information in the command center inside the cities.

The captured officers also knew very little about matters outside their own zone of responsibility.

However, with the destruction of the Dangui Mountain command center, some crucial information still spread like rumors in the goblin heartland. The intelligence department quickly collected and integrated the information and sent back a report.

"It was Rusty-Nail Old Badger, General Luowotan, who's dead! His family is in mourning!" The staff officer reported to Katharine with a barely perceptible hint of excitement. "On the very first day of the war, we successfully beheaded the enemy's highest-ranking commander in the theater of operations!"

Although a large number of mid- to high-ranking goblin officers were also killed in the process, these losses were less critical in comparison.

Among the goblin's future leadership pool, there is no one who can compare to this veteran Luowotan.

[Congratulations!] Su Ming sent his congratulations.

"Tomorrow's battle plan will probably have to be adjusted," Katharine sighed. "Luowotan's death will be a devastating blow to the goblins' morale."

"[Let's revise the details of our follow-up plan.]" Su Ming's tone also carried a hint of helplessness.

Half an hour later, the military meeting ended, and Su Ming stretched lazily, his bones making a soft cracking sound.

He stood up and realized his stomach was empty. He had gotten used to being fed by now, but the clock was already pointing to seven in the evening, and Jielusi was nowhere to be seen.

Su Ming decided to do it himself. He found some eggs, stirred the batter, coated them with fresh, plump shrimp, and dropped them one by one into the boiling oil. Accompanied by the cheerful sizzling sound, the golden shrimp balls rolled in the oil, and the tempting aroma quickly filled the room.

Although Mo Yuan was on duty for guarding the area at the moment, Su Ming still decided to look for Ruixiuli and Jielusi to see where they had gone off to "run wild".

He logged into the Pansy's monitoring system and quickly located his target in the engine room, which was filled with pipes and huge machinery. Jielusi and Ruixiuli were both covered in oil and had disheveled hair, looking rather disheveled.

What surprised Su Ming even more was that Zijin was also with them, and her clothes also had several conspicuous oil stains on them.

[Hey!] Su Ming established a mental connection and asked with a slightly teasing tone, [What are you guys up to?]

Zijin said helplessly, "[This afternoon, Ruixiuli came to see me, hoping I could give him those two skeletons to use as weapons.]"

Those that Ruixiuli would ask for were no ordinary goods, Su Ming realized, "[You mean Russell and Galio?]"

"[Yes,]" Zijin replied. "[It was just sitting there unused anyway, so I agreed.]"

With the completion of the Final Bone Mad Machines organization, these two hardworking and dutiful nanny skeletons were indeed no longer needed. However, Su Ming was still somewhat surprised by Zijin's "generosity".

Has Miss Bay Owl completely forgotten about what Ruixiuli did to offend her?

"[And then?]" Su Ming pressed.

[And then Ruixiuli!] Zijin's thoughts suddenly surged, filled with rage, [He actually let the skeleton break free of the seal's bindings!]

This necromancer, who was quite skilled, usually treated skeletons as consumables and had never attempted to summon or control truly High Rank undead creatures. He was completely unaware of the power of these two special skeletons.

So much so that when Zijin casually handed over control, the two skeletons instantly broke free from Ruixiuli's mind and then split apart and fled like startled beetles.

Su Ming almost burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. This was the second of the "Top Ten Novice Mistakes for Necromancers," and he never expected that even top-tier necromancers like Zijin and Ruixiuli would make such a mistake.

[So they're hiding deep inside the engine room now?]

"[Yes!]" Zijin confirmed irritably. "[Ordinary necromancers can't even find them. So the three of us have to play hide-and-seek, searching high and low in every nook and cranny of the network of pipes!]"

Su Ming felt that this scene was somewhat similar to catching free-range chickens in the countryside in broad daylight.

He wasn't too worried about the engine room equipment being damaged; these two skeletons were designed to do menial tasks from the moment they were created and had no combat capabilities.

Su Ming now realizes that Zijin is indeed not good at this, and it would be a waste to have these two Saint Rank skeletons in her hands.

"[How's it going?]" Su Ming asked, turning the shrimp in the oil. They were golden brown, releasing the most delicious aroma of oil and carbohydrates. "[I'm making dinner.]"

"[We've found two shinbones, a complete arm bone, seven ribs, and fourteen vertebrae----]" Zijin muttered to herself, her words filled with frustration.

Su Ming laughed even louder upon hearing this. Free-range skeletons are indeed harder to catch than free-range chickens!

"[You guys—keep it up!]" he said, pressing his stomach.

[Snort!]

Enjoy