A fantastical journey across the heavens, beginning with the Witcher.

The war came sooner than Li De had imagined.

That night, the Nilfgaardian army, carrying torches, seized advantageous positions around the city, completely surrounding the royal city of Sintra.

If it weren't for the fact that his soldiers suffered from chronic malnutrition and most of them were night blind, making them unsuitable for nighttime sieges, this group of black-clad soldiers would have launched their attack long ago, without even waiting until dawn.

The extra night of respite they gained cannot reverse the disadvantage.

The shadow of war weighed heavily on the hearts of everyone in the city, like a boulder. Even though Queen Calanthe repeatedly assured the outside world that the capital would be defended, the people inside the city were still filled with fear, and cries and panicked running were heard all day long.

After a large number of houses were demolished, wooden stakes, stones, and even bricks and tiles were moved onto the city walls to serve as defensive equipment.

Other able-bodied young men were also conscripted and temporarily incorporated into the army.

All of the above proves that this defensive battle was far from as easy as the Queen described.

In the relatively safe inner city, Ciri had long been confined to her quarters and was closely guarded by a squad of elite royal knights.

Olivia stayed by the girl's side without leaving her side. Right now, she couldn't use powerful spells, as the intense magical fluctuations could easily attract the Wild Hunt. If that happened, with internal and external troubles and attacks from both sides, what would be the point of defending? Everyone could just wash their faces and end their own lives.

At this moment, Li De was inspecting the city wall, looking at the dark mass of Nilfgaardian troops, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap flies.

The disparity in numbers is too great. As Sun Tzu's Art of War says: "If ten times their strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if twice, divide them; if equal, fight them; if fewer, escape them; if weaker, avoid them."

Due to regional cultural differences, Sun Tzu's Art of War may not be able to be copied entirely, but the core concept of the two armies' confrontation remains unchanged. With an absolute numerical disadvantage, the defensive advantage of having a city to rely on becomes a disadvantage. Under the encirclement from several sides, they cannot even abandon the city and escape.

As the morning sun pierced through the thick clouds and shone on the towering battlements of the royal city, a deafening roar suddenly erupted from the Nilfgaardian army.

"attack!"

"Beep beep!!"

The desolate and piercing sound of the bugle shattered the sky, and the black-clad army surged forward like a tide, their battle cries deafening.

"kill!"

……

Under the cover of catapults and longbowmen, the siege ladders and battering rams slowly approached the city wall.

Ordinary Nilfgaard soldiers didn't need to think too much; they just needed to avoid being trampled, stay close behind the siege engines, and wait for this meat grinder-like siege to begin.

There's an old saying, "High-level players hit low-level players, and idiots get hit." It's crude, but the principle is sound.

Nilfgaard's longbowmen advanced while firing arrows, but most of the arrows missed their mark and embedded themselves in the ground; the rest only managed to hit the city walls.

In contrast, the Sintra soldiers, taking advantage of the height of the city walls, unleashed several volleys of arrows, which fell into the dense ranks of the black-clad soldiers, instantly reaping a number of lives.

Unfortunately, the number of defenders was insufficient.

The devastating defeat in the Manada Valley was beyond crippling. The king was killed, and Sintra's most elite forces were almost completely wiped out. The defenders now consist of remnants and temporarily conscripted young men, who are simply not capable of sustaining a long siege.

As the two armies closed the distance, the catapults finally revealed their true power.

The first two rounds of projectiles only consisted of scattered pebbles the size of bricks, but thanks to the terrifying kinetic energy of their high-speed descent, their power was still not to be underestimated.

bang bang bang...

Raindrops of gravel fell on the city wall, stirring up clouds of dust. Some unlucky souls were hit and knocked to the ground without uttering a sound, their wounds deeply dented, clearly beyond saving.

Li De was rather unlucky; he was far from the main battle zone, yet he was caught off guard by a clump of misfired rocks.

"Ald!"

A pale blue shockwave shot out towards the sky.

Upon impact, small pieces of gravel were sent flying backward, while large stones were shattered by the shockwave.

This sudden surge of magical energy briefly caught the attention of Buchanan, the Nilfgaardian mage accompanying the army, but he only glanced at it briefly before looking away.

"The magic fluctuations aren't obvious; he's just an apprentice who doesn't understand war," he thought.

As a veteran mage who had fought alongside the imperial army for many years, he had no time to worry about these minor incidents. Right now, all he needed to do was focus on assisting the battering ram in breaking through the gates of Sintra.

The moment the siege ladder reached the city wall, the war entered its most intense phase.

The soldiers in black bravely climbed upwards, while the defenders on the city walls desperately pushed and shoved the ladders, throwing bricks, stones, and wooden beams. Every now and then, an unstable ladder would be overturned by a long pole, and the soldiers on the ladder would scream and fall into the crowd, dying instantly.

The screams of agony echoed endlessly from below the city walls.

Every heavy defensive object that fell sent splattering blood and claimed several lives.

There were simply too many soldiers in Nilfgaard. Some agile soldiers would evade the attacks and climb up the city walls at lightning speed. Some soldiers would even take a moment to raise their hands, aim their crossbows at the top of the walls, and kill a Sintra soldier who was peeking out with a single arrow.

"These bastards are actually going to climb up here."

Li Degang peeked out to check the battle situation when a silver light shot straight toward his face. He quickly raised his hand, firmly grasped the short arrow that was shot at him, and locked his eyes on the culprit.

The crossbowman had already climbed two-thirds of the way up the city wall and was staring at the top with a sinister look on his face.

"A sneak attack? An eye for an eye, I'll give you a surprise too!"

Li De snorted coldly, his right hand quickly forming a hand seal, and the Igni Seal instantly condensed, aiming directly at the crossbowman.

Just as the soldier who had fired a spare arrow was about to lament his bad luck, his vision was engulfed by a burst of crimson flames.

So warm... no, so hot flames!

"Aaaaaah!"

Climbing ladders is physically demanding, and the attacking soldiers were not wearing full heavy armor; the clothing lining their chainmail became the perfect ignition source.

He frantically extinguished the flames on his body, completely forgetting that he was on a steep ladder. He slipped and fell straight down, taking two unfortunate souls with him as he struggled to climb.

That wasn't all. Li De simply increased the intensity of the attack, and the blazing fire swept across the rough city wall, scorching the bricks and stones in its wake and leaving behind a series of hideous black burn marks.

The ropes and wooden frames on the ladders caught fire instantly, and the crackling sound of burning mixed with the screams of soldiers echoed across the battlefield.

Later, he simply stopped aiming at individual enemies. Flames surged in his palm, transforming into a long, swirling dragon of fire that rushed horizontally along the city wall, specifically targeting the siege ladders.

Large numbers of Nilfgaardian soldiers, engulfed in fireballs, plummeted from the sky with screams, crashing into piles of corpses below the city, dying before they could even struggle.

However, this brief suppression did not last long. Nilfgaard's catapults quickly changed their ammunition, no longer firing small, scattered stones, but rather large, watermelon-sized rocks.

The counterweight catapult uses the lever principle and centrifugal force to launch stones. Except for the key parts which were transported from abroad, the rest were made overnight and therefore have some defects.

To maintain attack range, some attack power has to be sacrificed. In war movies, there are often boulders that are bigger than a person and can crush a small section of a city wall. These are simply not something a catapult can handle.

The watermelon-sized boulder was not to be underestimated. Li De tried to block it with Alder, but the pale blue shockwave only slightly deflected the boulder and could not shake it completely.

"Boom!"

A series of stones slammed into the city wall, causing the entire wall to tremble slightly. Brick and stone fragments flew everywhere, and several Sintra soldiers who couldn't dodge in time were instantly smashed into a bloody pulp, their flesh and blood embedded in the broken wall, leaving no intact corpses.

Relying on his superhuman reaction speed and dynamic vision as a Witcher, Li De narrowly dodged to the side, the boulder grazing his shoulder as it crashed down, the force of the wind stinging his cheek.

"Damn it! Why the hell did I get involved in this mess?"

At first, he only wanted to take his friend's daughter away so she wouldn't be buried with the city.

But thinking of the trembling refugees in the city, and the villages slaughtered by Nilfgaardian beastmen, he inexplicably climbed the city walls.

"Next time you misbehave, well..."

He wanted to say he would chop off a finger as a warning, but he couldn't bring himself to say it, because he knew that if it happened again, he would do it again.

"I'll punish myself by eating an extra barbecue!"

After saying that, Igni's flames raged once again.