Siege Warfare

Because the Journeyman Level spell—Lesser Fireball—was an extremely common spell, most Journeyman Mages could cast it. It was particularly suited for sniping the enemy's heavy units in this kind of war. Thus, when more than a dozen Journeyman Mages all chose the same spell without prior coordination, more than a dozen blazing fireballs flew simultaneously toward the siege ladders covered in runes that the enemy soldiers were carrying!

However, just as the fireballs neared the enemy, the enemy mages acted. They used fireballs as well. At the Journeyman Level, using offensive spells to neutralize the enemy's offensive spells was the mainstream method of spell interception.

In the blink of an eye, several times more fireballs flew out from behind the enemy formation. Nearly all of their side's fireballs were struck midair by the enemy. More than a dozen huge bursts of flame exploded in the sky, and shattered fire scattered from the heavens like falling meteors, landing across the battlefield. Many enemy soldiers were hit by the splashing flames. Fires sustained by lingering mana could not possibly be extinguished by ordinary soldiers beating at them. Temperatures nearing a thousand degrees easily heated the soldiers' iron armor until it glowed red. Inside the armor, their flesh sizzled without exception. Before long, the ground was filled with pitiful soldiers howling and rolling around, giving off the scent of cooked meat!

Yet the enemy's combat professionals suffered little harm. The residual flames alone could not penetrate bodies covered in battle qi. Ignoring the crimson "iron cans" rolling on the ground, they roared resolutely as they charged toward the city wall.

The enemy's fireballs were quickly intercepted by their side as well. Although, due to their greater numbers, several fireballs still struck the city wall and hurled shattered granite along with charred limbs and chunks of flesh into the air, overall, the fireballs exploding in midair dealt a heavier blow to the enemy army spread across the battlefield. The enemy's previously orderly formation was now thrown into disarray. Scattered patches of searing fire burned on the ground beneath the walls, and the entire battlefield had been heated to over forty degrees. In the air warped by the scorching heat, the enemy warriors had not lost their will to fight. Instead, they became even more frenzied and bloodthirsty! Because this situation of being attacked from above was about to end.

The siege ladders had already been set against Konola City's thick but not particularly tall walls. Some warriors gathered battle qi and tried to chop apart the ladders, but the runes glowing along the sturdy ladders rendered the Apprentice Level Warriors' attacks useless. Even Journeyman Level warriors could only leave somewhat deeper gashes on them!

"Alchemical Siege Ladders, huh? It looks like that prince really did receive support from the Empire!" Punk frowned slightly. These alchemical siege ladders might have been low-level and simple in principle, but they could create an enormous advantage in an ordinary war. Their staggering cost was equally astonishing. On the Faerun plane, where alchemical items and the strength and number of professionals were standards by which national power was judged, even a kingdom-level nation that possessed such equipment would keep it hidden as a trump card rather than use it in a pursuit battle like this. Only an empire whose national strength surpassed that of a kingdom by dozens of times could give such an extravagant "gift."

"It seems the enemy won't let Princess go no matter what." Punk noticed that, apparently to speed up their pursuit, the enemy had brought only light equipment such as Magic Siege Ladders—equipment low-level professionals could carry counted as light equipment. In other words, as long as these devices were destroyed...

Bang! A deafening explosion erupted south of Konola City's walls!

Just two seconds earlier, Lunka had suddenly rushed from the commander-in-chief's seat toward the city wall, roaring, "Mainesi, in your dreams!"

Seeing Mainesi gathering mana and preparing to unleash a powerful spell, Lunka flew into a rage and transformed into a crimson streak, shooting toward Mainesi!

Mainesi, who had been about to cast a spell to destroy the siege ladders in one blow, had no choice but to interrupt his casting in the face of Lunka's charge and turn to meet Lunka's warhammer, which was already right before him!

After that, Punk heard only an earth-shattering roar. Massive chunks of stone that had once been part of the city wall fell from the sky. Nearly every huge boulder that landed on the battlefield smashed a cloud of bloody mist from the ground, and pits filled with mangled flesh soon covered the battlefield. Of course, many fragments were also hurled into the city. Punk saw numerous houses crumble fragilely into splintered wood beneath the falling boulders. Konola City, once filled with the quiet sobs of its poor residents, now gained many more miserable wails and screams! Large and small craters likewise left the once-prosperous Konola City scarred beyond recognition!

But Punk was more concerned with the battle by the city wall. The southern wall of Konola City looked as though it had been bombarded by an intercontinental missile. More than half of it had collapsed into rubble, and the breach continued to widen as the two Formal Level experts fought. Even Punk found it difficult to follow the speed at which two Formal Level experts went all out, but Mainesi was presumably doing everything he could to stop Lunka from further destroying the wall.

Although the wall had already collapsed into ruins, since it had become a battlefield for Formal Level experts, no "hero" who was "eager to die" dared approach it.

Feeling the continuous tremors coming from the ground and walls beneath his feet, Punk shook his head. What he needed to worry about now was his own battle!

As a Journeyman Level evocation spell, Scorching Fire Domain was relatively obscure. In terms of killing power alone, it could barely qualify as Apprentice Level. Its effect was to create an exceptionally large area of "scorching heat." Well! To professionals, more than five hundred degrees truly only counted as "scorching."

This spell, designed specifically to inflict casualties in wars involving ordinary people, was generally learned by powerful mages only as an academic reference. But today, this "gentle" spell was about to reveal its savage and terrifying side!

Punk tossed an inconspicuous orange-yellow ring of fire onto the battlefield. Amid a battlefield littered with flames, this little fire ring was undoubtedly unremarkable. The enemy soldiers were eagerly climbing the siege ladders, charging toward the city walls without hesitation as they stepped over their comrades' corpses.

In barely a second, the orange-red ring expanded until it was large enough to encompass three basketball courts. The temperature inside the fire ring began rising uncontrollably, as though magma lay just beneath the ground. Within mere seconds, it heated the area to around four hundred degrees. At such temperatures, the earth and stones began to glow red and crack. Before the soldiers' sweat could even emerge, it boiled beneath their skin. Every breath they took felt as though they were inhaling burning coals into their lungs, while every inch of their skin began to carbonize and drip grease! The enemies inside the fire ring were like roast geese in a microwave, screaming miserably and convulsing in spasms before being burned into blackened lumps in less than a minute!

There was no such thing as humanitarianism in another world. This horrifying scene made many of his "ruthless" comrades cheer loudly. Naturally, many rookies who had never witnessed the cruelty of war began trembling as they vomited violently!

Maybe this will wake these rookies from their childish dreams of heroism! This is the earnest guidance of a "senior" like me! Punk smiled as he watched viscous grease flow from the charred "objects" inside crimson armor on the battlefield, then blew a cheerful whistle!

That wave clear... should keep those annoying trash mobs from shouting such cringeworthy and suicidal nonsense as "I'll dig out your bone marrow with my blade," right? Punk thought lightly.