The spell "Lesser Fireball" was a very common spell among apprentice-level mages. It was also highly suitable for this kind of warfare, as a single cast could deal with a group of ordinary elite enemy soldiers.
Now, the apprentice-level mages on Punk's side joined together and cast more than ten such spells at once. A dozen blazing fireballs shot through the air toward the professionals carrying the siege ladders, which were covered in various glowing runes.
However, just as the fireballs approached their targets, the enemy mages reacted and cast the same spell. At the apprentice level, countering offensive spells with other offensive spells was the most common defensive method.
Punk watched as multiple fireballs flew from behind the enemy formation. Almost all of the fireballs from his own side were struck accurately in mid-air. A moment later, enormous fiery clouds exploded across the sky, lighting up the battlefield even though it was daytime.
Fragments of unstable magical residue then rained down across the battlefield.
This rain of fire struck many enemy soldiers. The flames still contained a small amount of mana and could not be extinguished by ordinary soldiers, continuing to burn fiercely on their bodies. The temperature of the flames reached nearly one thousand degrees. Only a few seconds after touching the soldiers' iron armor, the metal turned bright red.
The soldiers ran wildly while screaming in agony. Inside their armor, their skin and flesh sizzled loudly. Within moments, they collapsed to the ground, dead, while the sickening smell of burnt flesh spread across the battlefield.
However, the enemy's professional fighters were completely unharmed. The residual flames could not break through their battle Qi defenses. Ignoring the painful screams of the burning soldiers, they continued charging toward the city wall with unwavering determination.
The enemy mages also launched several fireballs, and the defending mages quickly intercepted most of them. However, due to their large numbers, some fireballs still struck the city wall.
Explosions blasted broken stones and splintered wood into the sky, along with several charred pieces of flesh. Even so, the enemy army suffered more damage because most of them were gathered close to the wall.
Their once unified formation became chaotic.
Small fires spread across the battlefield, raising the temperature of the surrounding area to over forty degrees. The heated air distorted the view of the battlefield like a wavering mirage.
Despite this, the enemy soldiers did not lose morale.
Instead, they became even more frenzied and bloodthirsty.
Because every one of them knew that the battle would soon reach its conclusion.
The siege ladders were already placed against the sturdy but relatively short walls of Konola City. Some warriors attempted to chop the ladders apart, but the glowing runes carved into them rendered the attacks of apprentice-level warriors useless.
Even trainee-level fighters could only leave deep scratches on the ladders.
"Alchemy ladders! Prince William must have received funding from the king!"
Punk frowned slightly.
Although these alchemical ladders were relatively low-level and simple in principle, they could create a huge advantage in warfare between ordinary armies. However, their cost was extremely high.
On the Pheren Plane, the number of alchemical items and professional warriors a kingdom possessed was considered a direct measure of its strength. Even if someone owned equipment like this, they would usually hide it as a trump card rather than waste it in an unimportant battle.
Only an empire, whose strength was dozens of times greater than that of an ordinary kingdom, could afford to use such equipment casually.
"It seems the enemy is determined not to let the princess escape at any cost."
Punk also noticed that the enemy army had brought only light equipment, such as the magical ladders. Clearly, they had done this to increase their speed during the pursuit.
Which meant they had not brought any siege weapons.
"Boom!"
A thunderous explosion suddenly echoed from the southern side of the city wall.
A few seconds earlier—
Seeing that Mage McNeesey ignored him and was preparing to cast a powerful spell, the commander-in-chief Lunka became furious. His face flushed red as he jumped to his feet and rushed toward the city wall, roaring loudly:
"McNeesey! In your dreams!"
Facing Lunka's charge, Mage McNeesey—who had been preparing a spell to destroy all the alchemy ladders in one attack—had no choice but to interrupt his casting and defend himself against Lunka's war hammer, which was already swinging toward him.
Punk suddenly heard an earth-shattering roar.
Immediately afterward, a massive number of stones—once part of the city wall—began falling from the sky. Each large boulder that struck the battlefield crushed groups of ordinary soldiers, leaving deep craters filled with flesh and blood.
Of course, many of the stones also crashed inside the city itself.
From where Punk stood, he could see houses and shops that had been intact just moments ago now reduced to rubble and splintered wood under the rain of falling debris.
The once prosperous Konola City was now filled with the devastated cries of terrified civilians.
However, Punk paid far more attention to the battle occurring on the other side of the wall.
The southern section of the wall looked as if it had been struck by an intercontinental missile.
Because of the intense clash between the two official-level powerhouses, most of that part of the wall had already collapsed, and the gap continued to widen.
Both fighters were moving so quickly that even Punk could barely follow their movements. From his perspective, it looked as though Mage McNeesey was desperately trying to stop Lunka from completely destroying the wall.
However, even though a massive breach had appeared, no one dared to cross it.
Not even the bravest warriors.
Because that area had become the battlefield of two official-level powerhouses.
Feeling the constant tremors coming from the ground and the walls beneath his feet, Punk simply shook his head.
"Now I should take care of my own business."
The trainee-level spell "Fiery Domain" was relatively unpopular. Its lethality was so low that many people believed it hardly deserved to be called a trainee-level spell.
Its only effect was to create a large heat zone reaching about 500 degrees.
For trainee-level professionals, this temperature caused nothing more than minor discomfort.
The spell had been designed specifically for warfare involving ordinary soldiers. Most trainee-level mages studied it only as an academic reference.
But today, this seemingly useless spell was about to reveal its terrifying side.
An inconspicuous orange-yellow ring of fire appeared on the battlefield, created quietly by Punk.
Amid the countless flames already burning across the battlefield, this small ring of fire seemed completely unremarkable. Enemy soldiers were rushing up the alchemy ladders, stepping on the corpses of their comrades without hesitation.
Within a single second, the ring of fire expanded until it covered an area the size of three basketball courts.
The temperature inside the ring began to rise rapidly.
Within seconds, it reached nearly four hundred degrees.
At such extreme heat, the stones on the ground turned red and began to crack apart.
The soldiers inside the area started sweating heavily—but before the sweat could even flow, it boiled directly on their skin.
Every breath they took felt like inhaling molten lava.
Their skin began to carbonize inch by inch, while fat melted and dripped from their bodies like a roasting goose in an oven.
In less than a minute, the screaming enemy soldiers trapped within the fiery domain were completely burned, reduced to blackened corpses resembling charred mummies.
There was no concept of humanitarianism in this world.
Some of Punk's ruthless allies even cheered loudly after witnessing the horrific scene.
At the same time, several inexperienced rookies who had never seen the cruelty of war before began trembling violently and vomiting.
"Maybe this will wake these rookies up from their naive heroic dreams," Punk thought calmly.
"Consider it this senior's lesson."
Punk smiled faintly and whistled lightly.
"The first wave of soldiers has been cleared… This should also teach these annoying flies with their ridiculous morale what the phrase 'grinding bones and tearing out tendons' truly means."
Punk watched the carbonized bodies wearing red armor and thought about it casually.