“Despite the common image, the main purpose of siege engines was not to destroy walls. If walls were so easy to destroy by simply chucking stones at it from afar, nobody would have invested so much effort and expenses to build them in the first place. Of course, sometimes weak walls would crumble before siege engines, but those were more the exception than the norm.

No, a siege engine’s main purpose was typically to damage the battlements at the top of the walls, to make it harder for the defenders to remain at their posts due to the threat they posed, and to lower the defending force’s morale as well. Most shots fired from siege engines ought to be aimed at the top of the walls or further, to lob the projectiles beyond the walls themselves. Those that hit the walls instead were just ones that aimed too low.” - Frimelda Giogris, military strategist from Alfheim, circa 420 FP.

By noon that day, some of the Podovnian siege engines were finished and immediately saw action during the siege battle. Mages from the Podovnian army conjured perfect rock spheres that were harder, heavier, and sturdier than most naturally-occurring stones, which were then used as ammunition for the trebuchets they had constructed.

The long arm of the siege engine hurled its load towards the distant Levain city as its counterweight swung the arm violently around. Whoever set the trebuchet up had probably missed some measurements in their calculations, however, as the stone projectile impacted low against the city’s seventh wall, causing dust to fall off but little else.

Even damaged, the outermost wall of Levain city was built to stand up to a lot more punishment than what some mere siege engines could do to it.

An engineer swiftly ordered some soldiers to mount more weight on the trebuchet’s counterweight, which would make the siege engine lob its projectiles with more force. Once the additional weights were secured, a second shot was fired. This time the stone projectile struck the city walls just a couple meters below the battlements, and the impact caused a couple soldiers at the top to nearly lose their balance.

Another quick adjustment sent the third projectile striking directly against one of the battlements at the top of the wall, the resultant stone shrapnel slaying two unfortunate soldiers who happened to be near the site of impact. With that result confirmed, the engineer then went to adjust the weight on the other finished trebuchets before they joined the first in its bombardement of the city walls.

At the same time, another engineer supervised the aiming angle and string tension on a ballista that propelled metal bolts towards the top of the battlements. Unlike regular ballistae that shot large bolts the size of spears, this one instead hurled dozens of small bolts, each the size of an arrow, using a bucket-like contraption. They were not accurate in the slightest, but aimed well, they could saturate a general area with a multitude of projectiles with every shot.

Ten such ballistae fired in turns towards the top of the city’s walls.

While the bolts they launched did not have that much force behind them by the time they reached the walls, it was still enough to pierce through flesh, as some unfortunate soldiers found out when they were struck in the face or other unprotected parts of their bodies. While the siege engines didn’t inflict much in terms of casualties nor damaged the wall seriously, they still did their part in disrupting the defenders atop the city’s walls.

Meanwhile, one of the battering rams built by the Podovniy army reached the bottom of the wall, right before the eastern gate of the city, which was shut tightly. The gates of the city was made of thick wood reinforced with steel, but it was still weaker than the walls, so an attempt was made to breach through it using the ram.

The steel-tipped log of the battering ram was swung back and forth by the thirty soldiers who had pushed the contraption to its position. They relied on the battering ram’s sturdy roof to protect them as they slammed the ram against the city gates again and again, each impact causing a dull sound that echoed for quite a while.

While all this took place, construction continued unabated on the siege tower that the Podovniy army seemed keen on building. The tower itself already took shape, already a good four meters high while engineers and builders constructed its upper levels. On the Anduillean front, they used their own siege engines to harass the wall’s defenders.

Compared to the Podovnian siege engines, the Anduilleans mostly used lighter catapults and scorpions, which had lower range but were more mobile and had better accuracy since they had to be fired from closer to the target. Besides those siege engines, their archers traded volleys of arrows with the defending archers who made use of their height advantage as much as they could, and casualties fell on both sides.

Siege ladders tall enough to reach the top of the walls were laid on the walls as Podovnian and Anduillean soldiers attempted to climb to the top under covering fire from their archers. All too often, however, those ladders were toppled over by the defenders before its occupants could get anywhere near the top of the walls, many of the climbers falling straight to their deaths in the process.

As the battle raged, Reinhardt kept watch at the situation from above, using the secondary artifact that Hannah carried, which was connected to his eye piece. Despite the seeming intensity of the battle, neither the besiegers nor the defenders have committed their all into the fight as of yet. Both of them still held their best troops in reserve, lying in wait for the proper opportunity where they could make the greatest impact.

Reinhardt himself did the same as he watched the ongoing battle. His mind whirled with the possibilities, thoughts, and ideas. Methods where he and his people might be able to cause a significant enough impact to alter the situation. It would be pointless to risk the lives of his people for anything less under the circumstances after all.