I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

Seraphina, Liana, and Seris were on the other three sides of the table. None of them had found time to rest since the Quest appeared.

First, Lian’s sudden attack on the Rootspire had happened.

Then the sound of the alarms.

Then the Main Quest appeared, warning about the awakening of a contaminated creature and the danger of The Black Silence entering Earth.

Rindo finally broke the silence. According to what he had understood, these girls knew.

”What exactly is the Corrupted Titan?”

His gaze moved among the three girls.

”The Quest talks about it as if everyone should know what we’re facing, but I had never even heard its name until today.”

Seraphina looked at Seris for a moment, as if waiting for her to explain.

”We saw it inside the Giants’ Graveyard.” Seris then answered calmly.

”You saw it?” Rindo frowned.

”She and Lian saw it.” The young Pendragon nodded.

She curled her fingers around the chair’s handle.

The image of that vast space, the massive chains, and the creature sitting like a mountain in the darkness were still in her mind.

”Was it alive?”

”It was asleep. Almost.”

”Was? Almost? I would appreciate a more precise explanation.”

”Now I’m not sure. When we were there, the area around it was full of monsters. After we killed a few of them, their blood and energy were pulled toward the Titan.” Seris kept her cold demeanor.

”The chains moved, and something around that creature reacted. It must have been The Black Silence.”

She hadn’t fully reasoned out exactly what was happening like Lian, but she also knew many things.

”According to what we know, The Black Silence is a type of disaster that contaminates minds, causes bloodthirst and madness. The civilizations of this world fell that way, and living creatures turned into monsters.” Seraphina explained. Worry could also be seen in her eyes.

Rindo thought about the Main Quest text.

[The Black Silence Calamity will gain access to Earth.]

”And according to the Quest, if we fail, that thing will enter Earth.” He asked slowly, his voice full of urgency. If that was the case, they were doomed.

A brief silence formed.

Rindo stared at the Emberroot map, but the lines on the paper no longer had the same meaning.

A few minutes ago, their main problems were surviving in the Special Area and freeing the four prisoners.

Now the System had announced that a creature whose true power was unknown could gain access to their world.

He was still putting the information together when the council building’s door slammed open.

Everyone in the room immediately reacted. Seraphina drew her sword from its sheath.

Seris placed her hand on her sword’s hilt and turned her body toward the door.

Liana summoned Shadow Wolf from the chair’s shadow.

But the person who entered through the door was not a Cindari soldier.

Lian entered the building with burned and bloodied armor.

The broken chains were still hanging from his wrists and part of his chest. A deep line was on his side, and traces of black ash could be seen on his neck and face.

Behind him, Marcus, Ethan, and Cassian appeared.

And then Aren, with long gray hair, a weak body, and heavy chains dragging on the ground, entered the room.

No one spoke for a few seconds.

Seraphina was the first to lower her sword slightly. Her eyes moved over Lian’s face, his wounds, and then the three freed prisoners.

”You’re back?” Her tone was more a sign of disbelief than a question.

”You brought all of them? That fast? Only a few hours have passed.” Liana looked at the group with a half-open mouth.

”It was a heroic rescue.” Marcus said with a smile.

”Heroic, no. More like a complete destruction of the prison.” Cassian said without losing his calm expression.

”That’s not a wrong definition.” Ethan also nodded.

Rindo still hadn’t moved.

His gaze moved from Marcus to Ethan, from Ethan to Cassian, and then to the unknown gray-haired man.

Then it fixed on Lian again.

”You really broke through the Rootspire and came back here?”

Lian entered the room and preferred not to answer.

Rindo stared at him for a few moments. Before he could say anything, the city’s alarms changed.

A deeper and faster sound spread from inside Vhalaris’s roots.

All the building’s windows lit up with red light.

Outside, Ashfall Ward’s defensive veins began to glow, and the sound of several bridges closing was heard.

Rindo closed his eyes.

A long sigh came out from his nose.

”Really? Now we have to escape from an entire Cindari civilization? While dealing with a bigger problem?”

”Relax.” Lian said.

”Relax?” His voice rose for the first time.

”You escaped from the city’s most secure prison. God knows how many people you killed. You freed four prisoners, and now the whole city is after us.”

”When he puts it that way, it really sounds bad.” Ethan whispered beside Marcus.

”Because it really is bad.” Marcus answered quietly.

Seraphina sheathed her sword, but her angry gaze was still on Lian.

”I think you promised me you wouldn’t do anything crazy!”

”When did I promise that?” Lian asked in confusion. He didn’t remember such a thing.

”After you returned from the border city mission.” Seraphina looked at his wounds.

”Well, this one wasn’t that dangerous.”

”.....”

”You really can never behave like a normal person?”

Seris, unlike the others, didn’t react strongly. Her gaze moved over the broken chains and battle marks for a moment.

Then a very small smile formed on her face.

”So you really did force your way out. I wish I had come too.”

”What’s done is done, and I think we have bigger problems to deal with.” Rindo placed his hand on his forehead.

Lian pointed at Aren.

”Before we decide what to do, I need to introduce someone.”

All eyes fell on the gray-haired man.

Aren didn’t fully understand their conversation, but he followed their expressions and gazes.

Lian said.

”This is Aren. One of the humans from the previous Cycle. A native of the Ruined Realm.”

The room’s atmosphere immediately changed.

Rindo lowered his hand from his forehead. Seraphina and Liana looked at Aren more carefully.

Cassian, Marcus, and Ethan also still didn’t know much of the information Lian had heard from Aren.

”Previous Cycle?” Rindo asked. He didn’t care as much about the ”native of the Ruined Realm” part.

”That means he’s been here for twenty-five years?” He had heard about these 25-year cycles before.

”Twenty-five years here. Two hundred and fifty years in his own world.” Lian answered calmly.

Even Seris lost control of her expression for the first time.

”Two hundred and fifty?”

Marcus furrowed his brows. Ethan put his smile aside.

”What do you mean?” Seraphina asked.

”Time here flows ten times slower?” Rindo frowned heavily.

”Unfortunately, yes.”

”So when we return...” Marcus said quietly, but the meaning of his words was clear. Worry was also clear in his voice.

They had every right to be worried, and it made everyone think.

If they stayed here for just one year, it would be equivalent to ten years in their own world. In other words, when they returned, their friends might already have children, and an entire generation might have passed.

Even thinking about it was terrifying.

”Exactly. That’s why we need to finish our work and leave this place as soon as possible.” Lian also nodded. He wanted to show them the urgency of the situation—that there was no time for nonsense.

”First, sit down.” Rindo pointed at the chairs by the table.

Aren sat down with Marcus’s help.

His heavy chains fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Liana looked at the seals on his body for a moment.

”Can’t they be opened?”

”They’re directly connected to his Mana channels. If we break them wrong, he might die.”

”Explain from the beginning.” Then the student council president said.

Lian gathered everyone around the table.

Marcus and Cassian sat on both sides of Aren. Ethan stood, leaning his weapon against the wall.

Seraphina, Seris, and Liana were on the other side.

”The Forgotten Tree is drying up.” He then began explaining the situation without introduction.

”The same tree mentioned in the Main Quest?” Rindo asked.

”Yeah.”

Lian explained what Aren had told him in the cell, plus what he himself knew. The three girls already knew some of it, but the boys knew nothing.

The Forgotten Tree was not just a large tree or a sacred structure.

The water cycle of the three forests depended on it.

Its gradual drying had caused water levels to drop in the Forest of Giants, changed resources in Emberroot, and probably disrupted Glassthorn’s balance.

Then he explained about the Titan’s chains.

The Forgotten Tree’s power was connected to the structures that restrained the contaminated Titan. The weaker the tree became, the more the chains lost their power.

The Black Silence was not just a contaminated substance around or inside that creature.

It was a type of living disease or disaster that would spread throughout the entire world with the Titan’s complete awakening.

The same thing the System had threatened: if they failed the mission, it would enter their world...