Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 79 Second Kill
"...Do you mean this 'playing' in an academic sense?" Su Ming asked the scholar.

“Little Violet rose to prominence in academia like a comet back then, partly because no one could out-argue her academically,” Sivor interjected. “And partly…” The old elf glanced at Violet.

"Why argue with them when you can just take action?" Zijin retorted. "They're using their seniority to suppress me, so I'll naturally 'suppress' them back."

Sure enough, he's the most capable fighter among the scholars, and the most scholarly among the warriors.

“Those who were put in sacks by her suffered fractures at best, and were bedridden for a year at worst,” Siwo recalled. “Later, many people who had offended her wrote to me asking me to intercede for them.”

“I was already very restrained at the time,” Violet argued, dissatisfied. “It’s just that occasionally, I went a little too far.”

"I mean, you won't listen to Siwo's advice?" Su Ming asked casually.

"Persuade?" Zijin asked in surprise. "Grandpa Xiwo came to help me as soon as he received the letter and learned about these things. Without him, there are a few tough issues I wouldn't have been able to handle!"

Su Ming couldn't help but glance at the two people in front of him. It seemed that like father, like son!
****
Siwo continued to communicate with the Federation, designating the sea monsters that had already been killed as Number One and the newly discovered sea monsters as Number Two, with the possibility of adding more in the sequence in the future. Su Ming even suspected that the sea monsters they discovered on the first and second days were not actually the same ones.

The survey fleet was equipped with a mage squadron, possessing considerable combat power, and its safety was not a concern. The Federation hoped that the White Triangle would continue searching for and killing the sea monster. Thus, the trap plan was activated again, and another decoy ship was dispatched and tethered to the White Triangle.

As usual, Su Ming "coordinated" a dozen barrels of alchemical explosives from the decoy ship and stored them in the warehouse of the White Triangle.

That evening, Su Ming brought everyone good news: the sonar could now detect signals from the second underwater acoustic convergence zone.

"After a long time of debugging, it finally worked." Su Ming felt a great sense of accomplishment, after all, military sonar is really complex.

"So that means we can now detect targets up to 110 kilometers away?" Siwo asked excitedly. "Won't the signal be too weak?"

"It's very faint, but large targets like sea monsters can still be identified."

"You're amazing, young friend!" Siwo patted Su Ming on the shoulder, then walked to the sand table and replanned the search route based on the new detection radius. "Now, we can complete the search mission for half of the sea area in a day and a night!"

However, due to Violet's unhealed injuries, the search can only be conducted when Su Ming is present. Because the area where the water sounds converge is very narrow, the two skeletons, Black and White, are not capable of the technical skill of maneuvering a boat to lock onto a target.

They made adjustments, reducing daily search time to 15 hours, with everyone resting the rest of the time.

****
On the second day of the new search, the White Triangle again captured the target, located in the second acoustic convergence zone 110 kilometers away.

Zijin insisted on getting out of bed and went to the operations room.

She watched as Su Ming accelerated the ship, and about an hour later, they successfully lured the sea monster into the first sound converging zone, at a distance of 56 kilometers.

As Su Ming became more familiar with the sonar system, he was able to obtain more precise data. Analysis showed that the target this time was significantly smaller than No. 1, and did not match the characteristics of Sea Monster No. 2 provided by the Federation.

They named it Kraken III.

“The sonar system is still quite useful.” Su Ming stretched his neck. “Zijin’s injuries haven’t healed yet, so let’s just track and observe her this time and give up on luring her to kill her.”

Siwo stood up and said, "Don't miss the opportunity. I'll go."

Su Ming looked at Zi Jin, the scholar was assessing his condition and weighing whether or not to stop Xiwo from going.

Her injuries were actually no longer serious. "I am, after all, a Grand Magister." Sivor saw through the girl's thoughts. "I will learn from your previous mistake and avoid direct contact with sea monsters."

Zijin finally nodded in agreement, "Then Grandpa, please be careful."

"I'll take charge of steering the ship," Zi Jin said to Su Ming after Xiwo set off. "You have to master these maneuvers. If you make any mistakes, please remind me."

"no problem."

This time the wind direction was different from the last ambush. When the sea monster was at the three o'clock position, Siwo released the mooring ropes and maneuvered the decoy boat downwind to the monster's location. He also brought two zombies as backup.

“At this rate, our zombie reserves might not be enough,” Su Ming said.

“I have already ordered the supplements from the Chamber of Commerce,” Violet said.

"Supplements? You mean... corpses?" Su Ming asked, slightly surprised.

“Yes. Death from illness or accident is common among sailors,” Violet told him. “I offered 20 gold coins per body, and many are willing to leave that compensation for their families.”

“…Okay, I need to get used to this.” Su Ming couldn’t help but recall the hardships he had witnessed at the bottom of society on Earth. “I’m just not used to dealing with death so frequently.”

“Many necromancers face this psychological dilemma.” Violet stared at her slender fingers. “The difference between the living and the dead lies only in a few runes. This perception can easily make people doubt their own existence.”

“I’m not good at philosophical reflections on life,” Su Ming admitted. “In this respect, I’m afraid I can’t become a qualified necromancer.”

"It doesn't matter. We're already the last ones left. Let the times eliminate the outdated ones," said Violet.

“It’s the old technology that’s being phased out, not us,” Su Ming said. “I must return to Earth.”

"Uh, I mean, once we escape, the field of necromancy in this world will disappear."

"That's true."

****
The tracking at sea proceeded slowly. The two operated the equipment, talked, and occasionally made marks on the sand table to perform necessary calculations.

"Xiwo, the target is within 3 kilometers and at a depth of 200 meters. There is a 37-second delay in this information," Su Ming reported to Xiwo via radio.

"Received. I can hear the sound of water nearby, no further reporting is needed," Siwo replied.

"learn."

Sivor was proficient in sound magic and could sense ocean activity within a certain range, making him more suitable than Violet for the mission than Sivor. He easily escaped before the sea monster attacked the ship, even taking the two zombies with him.

Large sprays of water rose in the water around the decoy boat as the Sea Monster No. 3 surfaced, its eight enormous tentacles wrapping around the decoy boat and tightening like a noose.

"Entering the second phase!" Siwo reported.

“These sea monsters are unusually persistent in attacking ships; they head straight for their target as soon as they spot it,” Zijin said, observing the sonar's trajectory of the sea monsters with a tone full of doubt.

(End of this chapter)