Onen naturally wasn't just going to stand by and allow the situation to develop like this, even though his troops weren't at a disadvantage at the moment.

The first thing that he had to do was take care of all of the Striking Salamander magicians in the sky. After that, he would send more troops onto the battlefield to completely crush Mackney's forces.

With that in mind, he rose up from his horse before springing up into the sky.

With their commander leading the way, around 500 to 600 more soldiers from the Wild Ax Legion also rose up into the air to follow him. These soldiers were all clad in suits of light leather armor while wielding a pair of small axes each, and it was clear just from a single glance that this was a special unit.

It didn't take long after that for Count Onen to begin making a significant impact on the battlefield as he tore through the ranks of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion's magicians.

He hacked and slashed left and right with his ax, barreling through the enemy ranks, and with each swipe of his ax, a magician was sure to fall. His fearsome prowess was unmatched, and was tearing through the enemy magicians like a wolf that had broken into a sheep's pen.

Soon, all of the magicians were scattering and fleeing in all directions in a panic to get away from Onen.

However, the warriors that had followed Onen up into the sky were already prepared to hunt them down.

They immediately approached the fleeing magicians, forcing them into combat at close quarters.

When it came to melee combat, the magicians were naturally no match for these martial artists. To further compound their woes, these martial artists had been specifically trained by Onen for the purpose of dealing with enemy magicians. Their light suits of armor granted them exceptional speed and maneuverability, and their small axes were designed to efficiently harvest the lives of opposing magicians.

Thus, it didn't take long before the magicians of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion suffered severe casualties.

Mackney looked on with a resentful expression as Onen swept through the magicians in the sky, and he could only order his archers to direct their arrows at the enemy soldiers up above, but the effects were quite minimal.

These warriors were extremely agile, making them very difficult to hit with arrows. Furthermore, the archers of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion were worried that they would strike down their allied magicians, so they were unable to fire off arrows as they pleased.

If Mackney were 10 years younger, he would've definitely dared to challenge Onen to a one-on-one battle to the death. However, at the moment, he could only watch the battle unfolding in the sky and fume in silence. He was the commander of the united army, so he couldn't allow any harm to befall himself, and as a result, he lacked the courage to charge into battle in person.

In contrast, Lucidy had no such qualms, and even as he was fighting on the battlefield, he could see the reservation on his father's face. Thus, he was inclined to step in in his father's stead, and in addition to that, he was eager to redeem himself after leading that catastrophic initial charge with the cavaliers, so this was the perfect opportunity for him.

Thus, he sprang up from the battlefield with his golden spear held aloft, rising up from the ground as a streak of golden light before rushing directly toward Onen.

"I see that the father is too much of a coward to face me, so he sent his son after me," Onen said with a derisive sneer as he swung his ax around to ward off Lucidy's attack.

"There's no need for my father to dirty his hands slaying trash like you," Lucidy said in a cold voice, then twisted around before sweeping his spear through the air, with the tip of the spear swiping directly toward Onen's throat.

Onen didn't dare to take this attack lightly, and instead of withstanding the attack head-on, he chose to take a half-step backward, allowing the tip of the spear to pass through the air just a finger's breadth away from his throat.

Through Lucidy's fierce spear intent, he was able to sense the power imbued within the attack, and a sheen of cold sweat had appeared over his face. He hadn't expected Lucidy's attack to be so ferocious and powerful, and he was very glad that he had made the correct decision to evade it.

If he had chosen to fight fire with fire just now, he would've most likely already been injured by the attack.

However, Onen wasn't interested in a one-on-one battle anyway. With a powerful sweep of his ax, he forced Lucidy back into retreat, and with this moment of respite that he had bought himself, he immediately turned to his own camp before yelling, "Go! All footsoldiers, enter the battle!"

His objective for targeting the magicians in the sky was precisely so that the rest of his forces would be able to advance toward the battlefield at the center.

Onen was aware that as long as he could decimate the backbone of the Tellier Wine Trade Guild United Army, namely the Striking Salamander mercenary legion, he would be able to easily secure victory in this battle.

Onen's deputies looked up toward the sky to find that most of the pesky magicians had already retreated. Thus, they raised their flags, commanding the remaining warriors of the Wild Ax Legion, of which there were over 16,000, to charge into battle.

The sound of thundering war drums immediately rang out from the western camp, and the second wave of footsoldiers began their charge.

Count Onen was going all-in and sending all of his troops onto the battlefield.

The two sides duking it out on the battlefield were roughly evenly matched. If the Wild Ax Legion's forces were to be bolstered by a second wave of footsoldiers numbering in excess of 16,000, then the Striking Salamander mercenary legion's troops would be sure to fall in no time.

It was very clear that Onen's intention was to crush the backbone of the Tellier Wine Trade Guild United Army as quickly as possible, and in response, Mackney immediately pointed his golden spear toward the oncoming troops of the Wild Ax Legion as he yelled, "Use the Fire Crossbow Shooting Stars!"

As it turned out, the 50 or so giant two-wheeled contraptions behind the Striking Salamander mercenary legion were called Fire Crossbow Shooting Stars.

With the massive wealth of the Farody Family at the army's disposal, they were able to produce siege weaponry like this, which had clearly been very expensive to build.

50 of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion's mercenaries immediately sprang into action, using pieces of flint to ignite the fuse on the massive contraptions.

Shortly thereafter, countless "shooting stars" that were burning with scorching flames were launched out of the grids on the contraptions, flying through the air in arcs of varying amplitudes as they flew toward the front lines of the battlefield, then exploded among the battling troops.

These things weren't very accurate and couldn't discriminate between friend or foe, landing wherever they wanted without any consideration.

Thankfully for Mackney, most of the projectiles landed amid the western camp in the distance.

All of the charging warriors of that Wild Ax Legion who were caught in the explosions suffered horrific fates ranging from severe injuries and burns to death.

Plumes of smoke and fire exploded upon the ground, and bright red clouds of fire were blooming in excitement among the Wild Ax Legion's ranks.

Mangled limbs and body parts were sent flying in all directions, and waves of agonized howls rang out incessantly.

Onen looked on with a stunned expression as his warriors were mercilessly ravaged by the "shooting stars". Even up in the sky, he could smell the strong scent of burning flesh, and for a moment, he was at a complete loss for what to do.

"How about it? What do you think of these Fire Crossbow Shooting Stars that our family developed?" Lucidy charged over to Onen again before thrusting his spear toward him.

"You think those shoddy little toys will allow you to win a battle?" Onen pursed his lips with a disdainful expression before retaliating with his ax.

"You so-called nobles are so poor that you're almost living on the streets! How can you possibly understand the impact that Loonies can have on a battle?" The fact that Lucidy was still capable of insulting Onen while battling him was a clear indication that he was the superior martial artist of the two.

Of course, Lucidy's insults were directed toward the poverty-stricken nobles of Zans. As for Count Onen himself, he definitely wasn't so poor that he was almost living on the streets. 

However, it really did come as quite a surprise to Onen that the Farody Family had this type of weaponry at their disposal.

Many of the 16,000 warriors from the Wild Ax Legion who were charging onto the battlefield had been killed or injured by the fiery projectiles, and only fewer than 4,000 of them made it to the front lines.

Meanwhile, on the main battlefield, there were around 12,000 Striking Salamander mercenaries left, while over 9,000 of the Wild Ax Legion's troops still remained. With the additional 4,000 troops that had entered the fray, the Wild Ax Legion had the advantage when it came to numbers.

When it came to the clash that was raging on the main battlefield, the Wild Ax Legion had well and truly gained the upper hand.

Even though Onen's troops had been severely ravaged by the Fire Crossbow Shooting Stars, they still held the upper hand on the main battlefield.

Furthermore, Onen could tell that the accuracy of the Fire Crossbow Shooting Stars was atrocious, so he knew that there was no way that Mackney would dare to fire another round onto the main battlefield, where there were just as many Striking Salamander mercenaries as there were warriors of the Wild Ax Legion.

After all, if Mackney were to launch an indiscriminate attack at a time like this, there was a chance that his Striking Salamander mercenary legion would be the first to be decimated.

In reality, the Fire Crossbow Shooting Stars could only be fired once, so Onen's concerns were entirely superfluous.

"I don't have the time to be bickering with you here," Onen said as he took a cold glance at Lucidy, then snapped his fingers toward the troops behind him.

Upon receiving this signal, the warriors who were intercepting the magicians of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion quickly converged to surround Lucidy.

As a result, Onen was able to get away.

At the moment, his top priority was to decimate the forces of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion on the main battlefield, so he had no time to waste in a one-on-one battle against Lucidy.

These warriors had been specifically trained to deal with magicians, so they were nothing more than cannon fodder in the face of a powerful martial artist like Lucidy.

However, with over 500 of them surrounding Lucidy, it would take him quite a while to kill them.

Thus, even though Lucidy was able to strike down an opposing adversary with each strike from his spear, he was still completely preoccupied.

Meanwhile, Onen was left unchecked, thereby allowing him to wreak havoc as he pleased on the chaotic main battlefield down below, and even the commanders of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion were no match for him.

Wielding his lethal ax, he paid no heed whatsoever to the golden armor being worn by the enemy troops. The blades of his ax were able to slice through the armor with precision and ease before dismembering the bodies of their wearer.

He was like a one-man army, carving a path through the enemy ranks, racking up more and more kills by the second.

Not only was the commander of the Wild Ax Legion leading the way in battle, he was doing so to great effect, and the morale of all of the warriors of the Wild Ax Legion received a significant boost upon seeing this.

In contrast, the Striking Salamander mercenaries were all terrified to see Onen slicing through their ranks so easily.

Mackney could see that the morale of his own troops on the main battlefield was gradually declining, and Lucidy was still preoccupied with the Wild Ax Legion's warriors in the sky, thereby preventing him from descending from above to stand in Onen's way. He knew that if things were to continue like this, the Striking Salamander mercenary legion's defeat would be sealed sooner rather than later.

Thus, he had no choice but to instruct one of his deputies to request reinforcements from the Luther Family and the Fayma Family.

The leaders of the two families were quite excited to hear that the Striking Salamander mercenary legion required their assistance. After all, they also wanted to contribute to this battle and show off their power in front of the Farody Family.

Due to the fact that all of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion's cavaliers were embroiled in the skirmish on the main battlefield, the Tellier Wine Trade Guild United Army no longer had any cavaliers that could be deployed to flank the enemy.

Thankfully, the 8,000 cavaliers of the Luther Family entered the fray.

At the same time, 6,000 warriors serving the Fayma Family also emerged from the rear and were prepared to enter the battlefield at any moment.

Seeing as Onen had already chosen to send all of his troops into battle, Mackney felt like there was no need to keep any of his own troops in reserve.