Under the coordination of the messenger and the Child Soldiers, the fireball crossbow convoy led by Mormon began to move slowly.

Seven fireball crossbows rolled out from the gaps between the legion's formations, with the Defensive Army gritting their teeth, steadily pushing the heavy crossbows forward.

The Holy Gun Cavalry guarded on both sides, closely watching the opposing enemy formation.

The distance from there to here was approximately 400-600 meters, and they had to ensure the repulsion of the enemy knights to prevent them from destroying the fireball crossbows.

However, strangely, the opponent's main force of knights remained still, only the squire knights attempted to harass but were driven off by the Ibe Knights.

With humans pushing and donkeys pulling, the crossbow carriages moved slowly forward, reaching a raised slope about two meters high.

The wheels rolled over the ground, leaving deep ruts.

Under the weight of the crossbow carriage, the feet of the Defensive Army sank into the soil, their facial and arm muscles bulging, and with a collective shout, they pushed the heavy crossbow carriage onto the earthen platform.

"Ha!"

With the moaning of the wheels, the seven fireball crossbows at the front were finally in position.

After confirming this through the flag, Mormon turned around and took out three egg-sized red crystals from a box.

These were the wondrous alchemical creations, dreamt of by all Fireball Wizards—Red Dragon's Breath.

Inexplicably, when Mormon learned that Xiaochi City had Red Dragon's Breath, it felt like fate was assisting them.

The reason for Red Dragon's Breath appearing in Xiaochi City was quite simple.

Geographically speaking, the southwest of Kasha County borders Black Snake Bay.

Due to the Red Copper Fortress blockade, although it was closer for Red Dragon's Breath and the Mages to head north along the Ibe River, they still had to first go to Falan Kingdom's Red Leaf Hill.

Then, they rerouted from Red Leaf Hill to Xiaochi City, and from this tributary of Nao'an River, the Hot Wind River, they transported the supplies upstream to Rapids City.

The previous batches of Mages and Red Dragon's Breath had traveled this path to support Catherine.

Thus, the leading supplies of the second Black Snake Bay support and the supplies of the first Black Snake Bay support ended up in Horn's hands.

This included a total of forty Red Dragon's Breath crystals.

Thank heavens, there were no Fireball Technique Witches in Xiaochi City, so they had been hoarded until now, to Horn's benefit.

This alchemical specialty of Celestial Maiden City in Black Snake Bay, is said by Celestial Maiden City to be produced from raising a thousand-year-old red dragon beneath the city, making Red Dragon's Breath from its blood, diminishing with each use.

That's what the high-ranking members of the Secret Faction declared to outsiders, whether believed or not, at least they believed it.

Hence, to maintain sustainability, the Secret Faction of Celestial Maiden City practiced extreme exploitation, producing less than twenty annually.

Some were stored in the warehouse for defending Celestial Maiden City, and only the surplus was available for export.

While called export, most of the time, they were designated for specific uses, such as blowing up the bishop's bedroom, attacking the Duke's carriage, or besieging Demon Hunter outposts.

The rule set by the Great Wizard and Witches of Celestial Maiden City was that Red Dragon's Breath could only be used in external wars, not internal conflicts.

If anyone dared to use it internally, the Astrologers of Celestial Maiden City would immediately reveal the culprits, and the Shaping Witches would ride griffins straight to their doorsteps.

This time, the uprising in Thousand River Valley was clearly to support an external war.

Unquestionably, in this Thousand River Valley uprising, Black Snake Bay pulled out all the stops, delivering nearly four hundred Red Dragon's Breath crystals.

The Salvation Army researched on the go, discovering that Red Dragon's Breath mainly had two effects.

The first effect was cohesion, where Red Dragon's Breath did not disperse like ordinary fireball techniques before hitting a solid object, regardless of wind pressure.

The second effect was enhancement, allowing Red Dragon's Breath to be ignited or even exploded, making Horn speculate it might contain white phosphorus components.

Because Mormon remembered that Red Dragon's Breath flames were described as "scattering like leprosy on the bones, capable of burning through bones and flesh, and that Divine Art could effectively extinguish it."

This implied that under the blessing of Red Dragon's Breath, the fireball technique could travel incredibly long distances.

With a Magic Staff mounted on the crossbow carriage, the Red Dragon's Breath embedded at the front, and after the Mage cast a spell, the Magic Staff could reach a stunning range of 900 meters.

In comparison, even fireball crossbows improved with clockwork gears using the same technology barely reached a range of 300 meters, often with the fireballs being blown out.

The only issue was the consumption of Magic Staffs, but this wasn't a problem for the Salvation Army, with thousands of Alchemists who could produce as many basic Magic Staffs as needed.

Mormon embedded the prismatic Red Dragon's Breath crystal at the top of the Magic Staff, inserting it into the crossbow's slot.

Beside him, the War Monk started turning the crank handle, clearly hearing the clicking of gears engaging inside, and the unique scent of metal and wood friction permeated the air.

The winch slowly turned, the thick crossbow string emitting a low "creaking" sound until it finally clicked into the latch.

Several vanguard soldiers, skilled in maneuvering crossbows, stepped forward and began adjusting the crossbows' angle, roughly aligning with the Church army's center.

The Astrologer stood by the crossbow, aligning his thumb with the enemy formation, repeatedly opening and closing his eyes.

At the same time, the crystal pendant in his hand swayed continuously across the star chart on the side of the crossbow.

As the rough estimation concluded, the crystal pendant gradually stopped, and the noses and ears of the Astrologers began to bleed somewhat.

"Turn a little to the right, don't turn too much."

"Loosen the string a bit, don't make it so tight."

"Move back a little...how much exactly? I don't know, just move back a little, I'll tell you when to stop."

After the astrologers made their adjustments, the ballistae were all positioned perfectly.

"Are you ready?" After communicating with the people in front using flag signals, Mormon turned around to ask the few Fireball Wizards beside him.

"Ready." The wizards swallowed hard.

Exhaling deeply to ease the tension within, Mormon led the Fireball Wizards as they stepped forward together.

Due to the differences in shooting range, the ballista positions were divided into 7 regular fireball ballistae at the front and 3 Red Dragon's Breath ballistae at the back of the array.

"Let's begin, get ready, watch your positioning, don't interfere with each other!"

"Got it."

The Fireball Wizards spread their arms, lifted their chins, and rolled their eyes back.

Each of them chanted completely different incantations, their bodies swaying, countless flames began to converge at the tip of their magic staffs, tiny threads of fire woven together.

The surrounding air slightly distorted due to the high temperature, and the fireballs gradually took shape, their scorching brilliance emitting an orange-red hue, making a faint "sizzling" sound.

Head-sized fireballs thus finally formed at the tip of the magic staffs.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Mormon first looked around to confirm that everyone had successfully cast their spells, then looked far ahead to the fireball ballista at the front of the formation.

The flags in front waved, yet Mormon understood their meaning, signaling that it was time to go.

"Aim! Don't let your hands tremble!" With a furious shout, Mormon waved his flag down, the three Fireball Mages stepped back in unison, "Fire!"

"Boom!"

The soldiers beside the ballista raised their hammers high and smashed them down hard.

Seven fireballs and three Red Dragon Breath fireballs rose from the battle formation, dragging fiery tails like comets streaking across the sky.

They chased, they burned, flames fell like snowflakes landing on the ground, diving towards the Church Army's formation.

Unlike the demand for absolute silence within the Salvation Army, Arman's Church Army was a cacophony of low voices.

They didn't notice the mages' actions, after all, what spell could reach them from such a distance?

They were busy chatting, complaining, even arguing until a few people inadvertently looked up, discovering that glaring red light in the sky.

"What is that...look quickly!"

Their expressions instantly froze, eyes widened,

As more people became aware of the anomaly, the number looking up increased, the chaotic noise gradually disappeared, replaced by an overwhelming silence.

All the guards widened their eyes, mouths slightly open, unable to utter a sound.

It's important to know, their Deng Jia'er Array was a dense formation, often with no more than an elbow's distance between people, sometimes even shoulder to shoulder.

Desperation nearly overflowed from the guards' eyes, as they had nowhere to run!

"It's Fireball Technique!" Finally, a knight broke the seemingly eternal silence with a scream, "Quick, take cover!"

"Boom—Boom—Boom—"

However, perhaps only the knights had a chance to evade, as ten fireballs accurately landed within the three large arrays of the central army.

Half a second later, a series of muffled explosions echoed across the battlefield, desperate screams accompanied the sounds.

Massive waves of fire spread out instantly, engulfing the bodies of guards and knights.

Dancing flames wildly flickered on their shoulders, hems, and sleeves, as the fire passed, skin contracted, as though countless invisible needles pierced through flesh and blood.

Guards rolled on the ground, frantically slapping at themselves, some even tried to squeeze out of the array to reach the stream beside them for water.

Yet this action only spread more flames onto others.

"Red Dragon's Breath! Why is it Red Dragon's Breath again?!"

"What smell... I'm on fire, save me, I'm burning!"

"Don't come over, don't push, don't push, someone lend me a hand."

"Spread out, spread out, don't bunch together."

"Don't spread out, don't spread out, don't turn your heads, I'm talking to you!"

Almost visibly, the Church Army's formation began to descend into chaos.

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