I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

The wind passed between the half-burned towers of Vhalaris and moved the temporary flags on the walls of Ashfall.

On the surface, the city was still standing, the Bridges had not completely fallen yet, the temporary Barriers were still active, and the Watchtowers that had been quickly repaired during the past few hours still had guards.

But Rindo knew very well from the top of the eastern wall that this appearance was nothing more than a very thin shell, Ashfall was no longer just an occupied area in Vhalaris.

It had become an island, and around it, a sea of Cindari had formed.

Ever since they had seen the siege, they had understood that the situation was much worse than they had expected.

They had thought about different scenarios and prepared strategies for each one, the possibility that all the armies would attack them at the same time was one of them, they just did not expect something like this to actually happen.

This was not a situation they wanted to be in at all, among all the scenarios, this was the worst one! A real damn nightmare.

The Student Council President sighed, and suddenly the sound of fast footsteps came from behind him, one of the Awakened almost ran to reach the top of the wall.

His breathing was fast, and part of his clothes was covered in mud and dirt.

”The North Route is closed.”

”How many Cindari?” Rindo did not take his eyes off the east.

”We don’t know exactly yet, but there are a lot, we saw the flag of Ashenreach.”

Cassian, who was standing a few steps beside Rindo, frowned.

He had almost never stopped checking the Battlefield since the Cinderhold army appeared in the east.

”So the north is gone too.”

”West?” Marcus stood with his arms crossed.

”It’s still open, but the direct path is not, several small units from Rootcrown have been seen around there.” The sentence was simple, but its meaning was as heavy as the sound of a death sentence.

They had hoped that a few small areas would still be open, but unfortunately, it was a useless hope, almost all of their escape routes were also closed.

Ashfall was no longer a Fortress where they could retreat if their lines were broken.

There was no open Forest Route left, there was no safe Bridge to escape from.

If the defense broke, they had nowhere to go.

Rindo looked at the field in front of him again, from this height, he could see the structure of the Cinderhold army better.

Heavy Infantry in the front line, Mage Units farther behind, and several Siege Engines at a safe distance.

Large War Beasts with metal Armor attached to their bodies.

And behind all of them were lines of soldiers that were still entering the area from the horizon, compared to them, there were not many Humans inside Ashfall.

Their number could barely reach fifty, and most of them were not even close to Level 20.

Potions were limited and Mana Crystals were even more limited.

More importantly, they were inside a city whose original design was not made to defend against an attack from outside.

Rindo quickly reached the conclusion, if the Cindari started a full attack from three directions at the same time, there was no real Chance of winning.

Even a long defense was unlikely, so their goal should not be victory, only one thing mattered.

Time..

Lian’s words returned to his mind.

”Buy as much time as you can.”

”Where is Maelor?” He took a calm breath and then said without taking his eyes off the army.

”Still in the prison cell, Kael and Tharos are also being kept separately from him.”

”Don’t move any of them without my order and keep them alive.” Then he pointed at one of the Officers.

”Send a message to the East Bridge, tell their Commander that their leaders are still alive.”

”And then?” The Officer paused for a moment.

”Tell them we are willing to negotiate.” Rindo said, the best way to buy time was negotiation.

Less than half an hour later, a small space for negotiations had been created on the largest eastern Bridge of Vhalaris.

The two sides stood several dozen meters away from each other, behind the Humans, two active Barriers were in place.

Behind the Cindari, a complete Formation of Guards was waiting.

Rindo had come forward himself, Marcus stood on his right and Seraphina on his left, while Cassian and several other Awakeners stood a little behind them, ready to respond if the negotiation turned into a fight at any moment.

From the Cindari side, a tall and broad-shouldered man stepped forward, his armor was made of black Steel and very thin golden lines could be seen on its surface.

He had a large two-handed sword on his back.

The System showed a short panel to several Humans who had the ability to see Levels.

[Race: Cindari]

[Level: 28]

Beside him, a woman wearing a white Rootcrown robe also moved forward, she seemed younger, but she had a calm and strong presence, and neither of them looked friendly.

The main Commander, Tavren, stopped a few meters before the center of the Bridge.

Rindo also stopped there, and for a few seconds, they only looked at each other.

”The conditions are simple.” The Cindari Commander said calmly.

”Tell me.”

”All Outsiders put down their weapons, Ashfall is evacuated immediately, Maelor Veyn, Kael Varun, Tharos Keln, and all Cindari Prisoners are released.” Tavren continued without changing his tone.

He paused for a moment and then said the fourth condition.

”And all Outsiders will be handed over to Rootcrown for investigation.”

Marcus said nothing and slightly looked at Rindo, Seraphina also frowned.

Rindo understood immediately, these people had not come to negotiate at all, they were only demanding unconditional surrender.

How stupid ... did they really think they were stupid enough to simply surrender like this?

Even if there was no way for them to win, they still would not be stupid enough to surrender like this, at least if they fought, they could certainly cause significant losses with all the traps they had prepared.

”No.” His answer was short.

”Then there will be war.” Tavren did not even blink.

”If you really wanted war, you would have attacked the moment you arrived.” Rindo gave a very faint smile this time.

The Cindari’s eyes narrowed slightly and the Student Council President continued.

”But you didn’t, because you also have limits.” He slightly opened his hand toward the surroundings.

”Vhalaris is your city, thousands of Cindari still live in different parts of it, if you use heavy Weapons, you will have to destroy the very thing you want to take back.”

Then his eyes directly met his.

”Maelor is alive, Kael is alive, Tharos is also alive, we did not massacre your people, even when we had the chance.”

”It wasn’t because of your kindness.” Tavren said coldly.

”The reason doesn’t matter, the result is the same, besides, we don’t want Vhalaris, and we don’t want your people either, your leaders are alive, we only need time to evacuate this place.”

Of course, he really had no intention of evacuating this place, and it was unlikely that the Cindari would even allow them to do so.

But if they could waste some time with this excuse ... why not?

”How much?” The Cindari Commander asked after thinking for a moment.

”Six hours.”

”Impossible.”

”Three hours.”

”No.”

”One hour.”

”Twenty minutes.” Tavren shook his head again.

Marcus could not stop himself from frowning, but Rindo kept the same expression.

”Twenty minutes for what? Evacuation is impossible in twenty minutes.”

”Evacuation? Do you think they will allow you to do that? Twenty minutes to gather your wounded and surrender your weapons, after that, we will enter Ashfall and arrest all of you, of course, you can resist and see the result.”

”Twenty minutes is not enough, and surrender is also impossible.” Rindo looked at him for several seconds.

”That’s all you will get, you can agree and all of you can die.”

”The first Cindari who enters Ashfall without an agreement, the first thing he will see will be Maelor’s corpse.” The Student Council President said calmly.

Seraphina looked at Rindo’s face for a moment, she knew that at least for now, he did not intend to do such a thing.

But Tavren did not know this, at least he could not be sure, and a thin vein moved on the Commander’s temple.

”If you kill even one of them—”

”If you enter Ashfall, my people will also be killed, so both of us have something to lose.” Rindo cut him off.

”You have something that belongs to us.” Tavren said nothing for several seconds, then spoke in a colder tone.

”The city?”

”No, time.” Tavren slowly shook his head.

This time even Rindo was silent for a moment, the sentence was strange, could it be related to the Calamity? Were these Cindari worried about the Calamity?

”Anyway, it’s not something you need to know, but know that we don’t have time to waste, it would be better if you surrender as soon as possible.”

”The problem is that every time one of you says that sentence, something worse comes after it.”

”Twenty minutes, within twenty minutes either find a way to escape or surrender, after that time we will enter no matter what, in return, you must not touch any of our leaders or soldiers.” There was a silence for a few seconds, and Tavren finally said.

”One hour.”

”Twenty minutes.”

”Forty.”

”Thirty.”

”Agreed.” Rindo finally nodded, thirty minutes was not a bad amount of time, at least they could buy time and think of a strategy to deal with this huge army at the same time.

Maybe they could even find a way to escape, but from the tone of this bastard, it was unlikely that he would allow them to escape under any circumstances.

The thirty minutes they had agreed to give them was probably time they needed for some reason, maybe to prepare some kind of Weapon or something like that.

But at that moment, the sound of fast footsteps came from the direction of Ashfall, a young Awakened passed through the Barrier, his face was pale.

It was clear that something serious had happened!