I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

”Council Head!” The young Awakened said with difficulty, unable to catch his breath.

Rindo turned around, and the Awakened did not even wait for permission.

”West Drain! Ashenreach Units are entering through the old channels!”

It became clear that while they were negotiating, the enemy forces had already started trying to infiltrate!

Silence fell over the Bridge, the Student Council President very calmly turned his head back toward Tavren.

There was no obvious anger on his face, but his voice became completely cold.

”So you never intended to negotiate from the beginning.”

”We intended to make you surrender.” Tavren did not deny it either.

Rindo looked at him for several seconds, then turned around, there was nothing left to say.

They also did not really want to negotiate and their main goal had been to buy time, now that it was clear the enemy’s goal was also only to distract them and use the element of surprise, there was no reason to waste more time.

”Cassian.”

”I’m ready.”

”Alert all Units and close the Bridges.”

Marcus pulled out his sword, Seraphina gathered Mana in her hand.

Tavren also took a step back.

”Then war.” Rindo said before passing through the Barrier for the last time.

”You chose this yourselves.”

”No, you chose to hurry and make a deadly decision.”

The first Horn sounded less than a minute later in the east, and Vhalaris exploded.

Not in the literal sense at that exact moment, but it felt like it, hundreds of Cindari moved at the same time.

Shield Units moved forward, Archers took Formation, and Mages prepared their Spells.

The Siege Engines changed their angles, and all across Ashfall, the Humans also moved into their prepared positions.

Rindo had not designed this defense to hold the city forever, such a thing was impossible.

Ashfall had been divided into three Layers, each Layer had only one goal.

Slow them down.

Layer One—

The Bridges.

The East Bridge was the first place where the clash happened, Cindari Shield Units moved forward in a tight Formation.

The Steel shields were connected edge to edge, and Spearmen moved behind them.

Archers fired from behind, and the first rain of arrows came toward the Humans.

”Barrier!”

Three Awakened Mages raised their hands at the same time, a blue Mana wall formed in front of the Bridge.

Dozens of Arrows hit it, waves of light spread across the surface of the Barrier.

But it did not break.

The Humans’ Ballistas answered, two heavy Projectiles hit the Formation.

The first shield cracked.

The second threw several Cindari backward, but the Formation continued.

”Not yet.” Rindo watched from the eastern position, his eyes were cold, he was truly angry and it was clear that he had put aside all of his kindness.

He knew there was no place for kindness in the current situation, if he showed mercy, they would be the ones who died.

”They’re entering the second Range.” Marcus said coldly.

”I see.”

The Cindari moved farther forward, ten meters ... twenty meters ... and the Formation became tighter.

Exactly what Rindo wanted, one of the Cindari Commanders shouted and the front line increased its speed.

And he raised his hand, waiting.

One second.

Two.

Three.

Then he lowered it.

The explosive traps under the Bridge activated, first red lines, then white.

Then—

Explosion!

The middle of the Bridge cracked from below like the stomach of a huge creature, stone and iron were thrown into the air, dozens of Cindari lost their balance.

The tight Formation that was their advantage became a weakness in an instant.

The people in the back fell onto the ones in front, some fell into the gap, and several Shield Units fell from the Bridge.

The Humans’ Archers fired at the same moment, Mages focused their Fire and Wind Spells on the broken area.

For several seconds, the Cindari were completely stopped.

”Finally, something good.” Cassian, who was standing beside one of the Barricades, said with a short smile.

They knew they had no chance in a direct fight, that was why they had filled the entire city with traps, each trap was supposed to cause huge losses to the enemy.

”This is only the first wave.” Rindo did not even look at him and did not become happy immediately, victory was not going to be easy ... if victory was even possible.

And exactly as he had said, the second wave came.

This time, the Cindari did not use the main Bridge, two side routes became active.

At the same time, a report came that Ashenreach forces had entered the outer part of Ashfall through the West Drain.

”Hold Layer One, no one should chase Kill Count, retreat in two minutes.” He raised the Communication Crystal.

”We’re still holding them!” A voice came from the Crystal.

”You’re not here to hold the Bridge, you’re here to buy time, two minutes and then retreat!”

When the Cindari entered the streets of Ashfall, they thought the first line of defense had been broken.

The Humans had intentionally retreated, a large part of the Streets was empty and the first Barricades had been abandoned, some buildings even had their doors open.

The Cindari entered, and exactly there, Layer Two began.

The first Shield Unit entered a narrow street with tall buildings on both sides, there was no Human in front of them.

The Commander pointed forward, the Unit entered.

Ten people.

Twenty.

Thirty.

”Don’t close the line!” Marcus’s voice came from one of the buildings above.

One of the Awakeners who was waiting behind a temporary Barrier looked at him in surprise.

”Let them come inside.” Marcus repeated.

The Cindari moved forward, when almost the entire Unit was inside the Kill Zone, Marcus lowered his hand.

”Now!”

The Barrier behind the Cindari closed, at the same time, another Barrier rose in front of them.

The Shield Unit was trapped between two Mana walls, the windows on both sides of the street opened.

Archers appeared, Mages aimed down from the Roof, and Awakeners entered from the Side Alleys.

Marcus jumped down from the second floor, landing directly on the first Cindari, his attack pushed the man’s shield down and with his second punch, he hit him into the soldier behind him.

”Don’t move forward!” One of the Awakeners wanted to chase the retreating enemy.

”This is our Kill Zone, not theirs! If you move forward, you will put yourselves in danger!” Their advantage was the environment and the traps they had prepared.

Most of the normal Cindari soldiers were around the same Level as them, and only the Commander of each Unit reached Level 20 or slightly higher, so in this way, they had neither an advantage nor a weakness.

The only difference was the number of soldiers, which was a major weakness for them, and even that would not be a problem as long as they were fighting inside areas filled with traps.

A Fire Spell exploded from the top of the building and landed on the Formation, the Cindari were put under heavy pressure for several moments.

But things were not going as well in the southern part.

Ethan let the blade of a Spear pass within a few centimeters of his face.

He stepped inside, grabbed the Cindari’s arm, turned his body, and pushed his own sword under the enemy’s side.

The man fell to the ground.

A young Awakener was breathing heavily behind Ethan.

”Be careful, you’re fighting Awakened creatures, they can use tricks too.”

”I know.” The young Awakened nodded.

Suddenly, a green Projectile passed beside Ethan.

The young Awakener reacted too late, the explosion threw him against the wall.

”Damn it!” Ethan turned around and reached him, the man was still alive, but blood was coming from his shoulder.

He grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him behind the Barricade, this time, he did not make any jokes.

”Healer!”

...

In the north of Ashfall, the situation suddenly became worse.

Rindo’s Communication Crystal shook.

”North Street Breach!”

”Location?”

”Third Root Avenue!”

”Liana.” Rindo activated the second Crystal.

”I’m listening.” The sound of fast breathing came from the other side.

”North Street!”

”I’m going! Damn it! How many people do you think I am? I have limits too!” The girl complained, but followed the order.

A few seconds later, the Shadow Wolf jumped from the roof of one of the buildings, Liana was leaning over its back.

The Wolf landed on the next roof and jumped again.

The distance that a normal Awakener would need one minute to cross was passed in only a few seconds.

When they reached Third Root Avenue, the Cindari Captain had just pushed aside the half-broken Barrier.

Liana jumped off the Shadow Wolf.

The Captain did not even have time to turn around completely, the attack passed beside his neck and blood splashed across the wall.

But two more Elites immediately entered the street.

One was Level 16 and the other was Level 19.

Liana landed and the Shadow Wolf growled beside her, and they quickly understood that this Breach would not end with only one Captain.

...

For some time, Rindo’s strategy worked, every street had a Trap, every building had a Firing Position.

Every retreat followed a prepared route, and the Cindari suffered more losses in Layer Two than they had expected.

But a real army did not repeat the same mistake for long.

Tavren Korr understood the Pattern very quickly, the orders changed.

The tight Formations were broken and the Mages moved forward, placing their hands on the ground.

The roots under the streets began to move.

The hidden Barrier Nodes were destroyed one after another from below.

On East Street, the ground under one of the Reinforced buildings rose, the main pillar broke, and the building leaned to one side.

The Archers on the Roof were forced to jump.

At the same time, other Units stopped moving through the marked streets, they went directly through the walls of the buildings.

A Cindari Soldier came out from inside a wall with his huge Shield and surprised five Awakeners.

At the same time, other Units arrived from above, they were moving across the roofs!

The Archers who had a Safe Position until that moment suddenly found themselves in Melee.

Cassian watched the Battlefield from the top of one of the middle towers.

”They’re changing the Pattern.” He raised a Communication Crystal and immediately gave a warning!

”I know.” Rindo answered immediately, he knew the enemy was not stupid and sooner or later they would understand the Pattern and find a way through.

”Abandon Layer Two.” He sighed and added.

”Now? Is it really necessary? We’re still holding it.”

”In five more minutes, both you and Layer Two will fall.” The Student Council President warned.

”Ah .... Understood.”

”Everyone to Inner Ashfall, no one stays behind to take corpses or Equipment.” Rindo continued.

This order was bitter for some people, but necessary, he preferred to abandon a Line that was still standing rather than have that same Layer be destroyed five minutes later along with the Awakened inside it under a multi-directional attack.

At least if they retreated now ... they could prevent more losses.

But in any case, the situation was not looking good.