A Game of Wits

Celestite Hydropower Station, riverbank.

A deafening roar erupted as an object, invisible to the naked eye, shot skyward with a terrifying speed beyond perception, accompanied by a piercing shriek! The air was compressed and torn apart, forming a visible milky-white shockwave ring. The violent shockwave swept across the riverbank like a razor, churning up large swaths of water and transforming them into a torrential downpour of white mist!

The immense impact caused the Type 59 Modified, carrying the Vermilion Bow, to lurch backward, its six massive legs sinking deep into the riverbed mud, stirring up huge waves of murky mud. As the commotion subsided, all the dragons that had been lying prone immediately rose, shaking off the mud and water droplets from their scales, and quickly regrouped around the Type 59 Modified. Some dragons began operating the hoisting equipment to lift the next "Plain Gift" shell; others flapped their wings, casting water manipulation spells, turning the river water into a mist that sprayed down on the Vermilion Bow's scorching hot barrel!

The water mist, upon contact with the metal surface, emitted a piercing "pitter-pitter" sound, transforming into large plumes of billowing white steam that enveloped the entire giant cannon. During a single firing, of the enormous energy of 1376 megajoules, only 30% was converted into Plain Gift energy. The rest was lost in various forms during the violent conversion process.

The vast majority of it eventually turned into enormous amounts of heat.

The surrounding river water temperature rose, and soon a large number of dead fish, belly up, floated to the surface. In the nearby area, the faint aroma of boiled fish meat could even be smelled.

Miao Xin laid the Type 59 Modified flat, extending the shell carrier at the rear to facilitate the hoisting operation. Su Ming, meanwhile, kept his eyes on the tactical screen, tracking the shell that had just taken off.

On the screen, the dot representing Plain Gift 5 was rapidly ascending along an arc trajectory, quickly piercing the clouds and reaching an altitude of thirty kilometers in the stratosphere. As its flight attitude leveled out, the metal wings on Plain Gift fully unfolded, and the missile entered the gliding phase. Although it was still consuming energy, this was the upper stratosphere, where the air was thin, with a density only fifteen-thousandth that at sea level.

Moreover, the Plain Gift not only adopts a low-drag, jujube-shaped design, but its bottom exhaust device at the rear also continuously injects gas, further reducing the drag generated by the low-pressure vortex region at the rear.

Engineers on the technology side have gone to great lengths to throw stones as high and far as possible!

On the muddy riverbank, Newman and the Quail squatted there, writing a large number of equations on a twig, still unable to understand how the shell could travel a distance of four hundred kilometers and still retain enough destructive power to threaten a super dragon.

No matter how you calculate it, it shouldn't be possible!

On the contrary, Miao Xin in the cockpit looked thoughtfully at the ever-changing flight trajectory envelope of Plain Gift on Su Ming's screen.

"This actually uses flight energy management, right?" she asked, pointing to the screen.

The distance is 400 kilometers, and it takes Plain Gift a full twelve minutes to fly there. However, Vermilion Bow can complete a launch cycle every three minutes. At this moment, in addition to Plain Increase 1, which has already completed its mission, there are still four Destruction Shuttles speeding through the air.

The real-time footage transmitted by the Rainbow Drone showed that the Jinghuo had changed from a stationary state to a moving one, with its trajectory constantly adjusting. Su Ming was making comprehensive predictions based on these movements and making corrections to the trajectory of each Plain Gift in transit.

"During the ascent phase, potential energy is stored to reduce energy loss due to air resistance," Miao Xin continued, "And during the descent phase, this potential energy is then converted into striking kinetic energy."

Air resistance is the main culprit for energy loss in long-range ballistic weapons, and its loss is proportional to the square of the velocity. The Vermilion Bow uses a 45-degree angle for firing, which distributes the energy evenly along the vertical and horizontal axes.

Therefore, even if the speed of the Plain Gift decreases sharply after a long run, it can still extract a terrifying speed that can tear the sound barrier at the end of its dive attack!

"Not bad, all that time you've spent studying flight theory hasn't been for nothing," Su Ming praised.

"Speaking of which, what about that ground effect vehicle I practiced so hard with, the ' H-6- 6Z'?" Miao Xin remembered this, and the Skeleton Pig's head turned towards Su Ming. "These keel bones are incredibly strong; they should be able to build it, right?"

"These are all borrowed dragon bones, and we have to return them," Su Ming said. "However, we do already have the bone material needed to build the ' H-6 WZ '."

"Where is it?" Miao Xin asked eagerly upon hearing this.

On the tactical screen, the dot representing Plain Gift 2 entered the maneuver range, and Su Ming quickly switched it to terminal autonomous attack mode. The slender metal rod immediately locked on and swooped down towards Zhu Jinghuo or that massive body!

He pointed to the huge red outline representing the Super Crystal Dragon on the screen.

"Isn't that it!"

Death Knell and Nitelai are discussing countermeasures to deal with Su Ming's new attack method.

"The shield alone can't hold!" The voice of the Death Knell was grave. "The strength can certainly be increased, but that damned thing... will smash through and collapse the entire magic array along with the dragon's back!"

Modifying the shield by adding a reinforcing pad at its base might be feasible, but this would be equivalent to rebuilding the entire defense cluster, which would be impossible to complete in less than two days!

Moreover, this would lead to enormous energy expenditure, and simply enduring it would not be possible to sustain it for long.

"How about digging a big hole and hiding underground!" Nitelai's eyes flashed. "The Pomegranate mining area has ready-made mine tunnels! It only takes a few hours of digging, Jinghuo we could probably crawl in!"

This is a feasible plan. The Magic Power crystals in the Pomegranate mine are crucial to the entire plan—they not only need to destroy the base of the Final Bone Mad Machines, but also need to wipe out all strategically valuable ground facilities in Dragon Valley. They even need to launch a transoceanic manhunt for Su Ming's new hideout! Death Knell was about to nod in agreement, her body suddenly stiffened, and she abruptly looked up at the sky, her face instantly turning ashen!

At the edge of the sky, a "date pit baby" exactly like the one from before was tearing through the air with a Maimai tail flame! "Damn it!" Nitelai was so angry he almost spat blood. "It's only been three minutes—is this thing a water gun?!" "Jinghuo, run!" the Death Knell shouted.

The Crystal Dragon's massive body suddenly activated, its six enormous legs stomping wildly on the earth. The ground trembled violently like a drumhead, and the remaining buildings in the mining area were easily crushed into dust like building blocks!

The Plain Gift calmly changed the direction of its tail flame, and with a slight deflection of its slender metal wing surface, it easily adjusted its dive trajectory and snapped back into the fleeing behemoth!

With a flourish of his hands, Nitelai unleashed a hundred diamond-shaped energy beams from the Crystal Dragon's back, like a dense swarm of bees, accompanied by a piercing buzz! Although the distance was considerable, the sheer number of beams ensured that several still struck their target squarely. Plain Gift's metal stabilizing wing and tail thruster instantly shattered into a shower of flying metal fragments!

"Change direction!" Death Knell shouted sharply.

The Jinghuo suddenly halted its frantic charge to one side, its massive body twisting to the side with incredible agility! Plain Increase maneuverable remains of the super Crystal Dragon, accompanied by a dull whistle, tore through the scales on its side, leaving a chasm tens of meters long, before finally crashing into the hard rock, sending up clouds of rubble and dust!

It grazed past!

Through a series of close calls and close cooperation, the Plundering Clock team managed to evade the attack!

However, neither Crystal Dragon Jinghuo nor the two "Clock Hand" on its back and their subordinates felt any joy, only a bone-chilling cold and a heavy sense of suffocation.

The Death Knell rose into the air, expanding its field of vision. Sure enough, just moments later, at the edge of its field of vision, the third "date pit baby" appeared!

Bathed in the brilliant morning light, it was like a young girl in a golden wedding dress, rushing towards them with great joy! In an instant, all color drained from Death Knell's face.

"What the hell is going to happen?!" Nitelai's face showed a hint of despair. At this rate, forget about collecting crystals from the Pomegranate mine for enhancement; they and the Jinghuo would all be worn down to death!

The brain of the Death Knell overclocked, instantly weighing the only way out: "Abandon the mine supply! Launch a surprise attack on Dragon Valley immediately!" "Why not retreat first?" a member of the Quarter Hand team urgently suggested, "Their weapon can only shoot 400 kilometers, can it really cover 800 kilometers?"

Eight hundred kilometers away from the Final Bone Mad Machines base, there is another crystal vein suitable for the Crystal Cascade Magic Cube's violent mining. Jinghuo could turn there for supplies.

"If we retreat, they won't pursue us?" Death Knell retorted sharply, "The Final Bone Mad Machines don't necessarily have to be at the base to fire!"

"Su Ming's reaction speed... is astonishing." Nitelai's voice was slightly hoarse as he raised his hand to activate the attack array that had just stopped, aiming at the Plain Increase 3 rushing from above. "They've come up with such a counterattack in just ten hours! If this drags on any longer, who knows what else awaits us!"

"That's right," Death Knell sighed, "Turn around, begin the final battle!"

The golden sunlight relentlessly dispelled the last vestiges of night. The Super Crystal Dragon's six enormous feet crushed the scorched earth as it strode towards Dragon Valley.

The same combo was used again: Nitelai used the Prism Ray to intercept the shell, eliminating Jinghuo terminal mobility, and then suddenly changed direction to dodge. But this time, Plain Gift 3 also made a sudden change of direction, avoiding half of the ray in front of it.

This meant that Nitelai was able to shatter it at much closer range, making it impossible for Jinghuo to dodge at all. The Death Knell had to deploy its full shield array to intercept it.

This time, the defensive shield successfully withstood Plain Gift's attack, but the crystal dragon scales released by the defensive magic circle developed large cracks. If this happened several times, the entire magic circle would collapse.

"No, we have to rip their eyes out!" Nitelai suddenly looked up, locking onto the annoying Rainbow Drone hovering in the air.

A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes, and a vast array of light prisms instantly illuminated, turning tens of thousands of precious crystals into ashes. The blinding beam of energy surged towards the scouts in the air like a burst dam!

Miao Xin immediately sensed something was wrong and frantically dodged and climbed rapidly through the dense rain of light!

However, in the struggle to keep up with all the reconnaissance planes, only two of the three managed to escape. The last one was pierced by several beams of light at the same time and exploded in mid-air into a brilliant but brief fireball!

Of the two that escaped, one was grazed by the beam, and its detection equipment was severely damaged.

Watching the intense scene transmitted back on the screen, Su Ming couldn't help but marvel—how did Miao Xin manage to micro-manage three aircraft simultaneously?! "The surviving drone continues its ascent!" Su Ming suppressed his distracting thoughts and ordered, "Abandon close-range reconnaissance details; maintaining situational awareness at high altitude is sufficient."

"Um."

The close reconnaissance during this period was highly effective. Based on the images transmitted back, Newman had clearly analyzed the type of Jinghuo or the magic array cluster on its back, and even captured its energy characteristics perfectly.

For example, the magic circle on the Crystal Dragon's back is currently about 95% intact, and the overall energy reserve is maintained at around 91%.

Miao Xin raised the intact drone to an altitude of ten kilometers, set it to autopilot and hover, and sent the other drone back to base. At the same time, she arranged for nearby standby drones to fly over and fill the gap.

The fourth Plain Gift arrived as promised!

Nitelai began to familiarize himself with Plain Gift's characteristics, increasing the efficiency of the interception fire network. After destroying the terminal maneuverability of the shells, he also activated the levitation array, injecting extra speed into the Jinghuo or the massive body, and once again narrowly avoided Plain Gift's impact point in the smoke and dust.

However, according to Newman's real-time calculations, this round of maneuvering and interception caused the enemy's magic crystal reserves to plummet by nearly 3%!

"At this rate, it would take thirty bombs to penetrate it," Miao Xin muttered. "Wouldn't we be bombarding it for an hour and a half?"

"Let's treat it as a naval battle." Su Ming stared at the row of flying lights on the screen. "Naval artillery battles, bombarding for a whole day and night is common." "The era of giant ships and cannons?" Miao Xin's tone was more relaxed. "That's fine, anyway, it's quite entertaining to watch these big guys jumping around!" Loading, aiming, firing, on the Tianqing Stone River beach, the Vermilion Bow firing process proceeded methodically. Every three minutes, a Plain Gift would soar into the air.

The hydroelectric power station's turbines roared, continuously supplying an inexhaustible source of electricity.

Clearly unwilling to accept this dire situation, the Plundering Clock devised another strategy. Large numbers of Crystal Spawn Insect, like a swarm of bees leaving their nest, detached from the Jinghuo and rose rapidly into the air!

These Crystal Spawn Insect rapidly unfolded and transformed in the air, like countless enormous, angular ice crystal petals, piecing together and combining with each other! Before long, giant crystal mirrors covered with runes spread out above Jinghuo's head, completely obscuring the towering, mountain-like figure of the Crystal Dragon below!

Su Ming immediately switched to radar imaging, only to find that the X-band radar was completely blocked by the crystal mirror, but the more penetrating band radar could still work. Although the clutter was severe and the image of the Crystal Dragon below was blurry, its general location could still be locked.

The fifth and sixth Plain Increase, trailing flames, crashed through the suspended crystal mirror like falling meteorites!

However, visibility was completely blocked, and the smoke and dust from the explosion were also blocked by the crystal barrier. The drone's detection equipment could not detect any clear hit feedback or structural damage signals.

Su Ming frowned; it wouldn't do to be completely unaware of the attack's effects.

"Contact the dwarves!" He grabbed the communicator. "Have them find a way to confirm the results!"