I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

With the situation as it was, there was no other choice, and everyone retreated to Layer Three.

Layer Three was smaller, much smaller, only a few central streets of Ashfall, two Plazas, three Reinforced Buildings, and one main Healing Station.

And the underground Bunker where the Prisoners had been moved, there was not much Terrain left for them to retreat to.

They were slowly reaching the limit of how much they could use the traps, cause heavy losses, and then retreat.

Unfortunately, this plan no longer worked.

Rindo himself stood in the middle of the Plaza, all the Unit Leaders were around him, some were injured, some had less than half of their Mana, no one was in good condition, and things were only getting worse.

”Listen.”

The sounds of the Battlefield came from a distance, the Cindari were still advancing,

”Nobody try to be a Hero, if the line breaks, retreat, if your friend falls and you can save them without dying, do it.” A moment later, his tone became colder.

”But if two of you have to die to save one person, leave them.”

”What?” one of the young Awakeners immediately said.

”Isn’t that too cruel?”

”Wouldn’t it be better to save them? Especially since we don’t have enough people?”

”If both of you die, nobody gets saved, this war isn’t about becoming a Hero, it’s about staying alive.” Rindo answered seriously.

No one objected anymore and everyone sighed in silence, the Student Council President they were looking at was very different from the person he had been only a short while ago.

It was as if his personality had completely changed ... or maybe he had simply understood that there was no place for mistakes and kindness in this situation.

The battle started again, and this time it was bloodier.

The central streets of Ashfall turned into something that no longer looked like a residential area within a few minutes.

A Root Spear passed through the Barrier and pierced the chest of an Archer on the Tower.

His body stayed on the spear for a moment and then fell down.

Another Mage used so much Mana to keep the Barrier up that his knees finally bent, blood came from his nose, and then he fainted.

Two people pulled him back, inside the Healing Station, a female Healer stood between two injured Awakeners.

One had his stomach cut open and the other’s Mana Channels were burned, there was only one Recovery Potion left.

Her hand shook for a few seconds and then she made her decision, she gave the Potion to the one who had a better chance of returning to the battle.

She kept the other alive with normal Healing Magic, no one said anything about her choice, because they knew every choice had a heavy price.

So in the end, they had to make the best choice.

On the eastern street, a Cindari Soldier broke the Barricade with one strike, five Humans were thrown backward.

Marcus entered with an injured shoulder, his first strike knocked the Shield down but his right arm felt a sharp pain after the impact.

One of the Cindari attacked from the side with a Slash and he barely managed to move away, although the blade cut through his shoulder and blood spilled onto his clothes, he still turned around and broke the enemy’s knee with his foot.

The battle was no longer clean.

Nobody was using beautiful Skills for show, anything that made the enemy move forward one second later was valuable.

Almost one hour later, Cassian made his way to the command center, part of his face was covered in blood, part of his Armor was broken.

Rindo understood that he did not have good news the moment he saw him.

”North Line has fallen.” And yes ... the news was not good at all.

”How far did they retreat?”

”Two streets.”

”South?” Rindo asked after thinking for a moment.

”Ethan.” Rindo activated the Crystal, he had no information about the situation in the south and needed to contact the Commander of that Unit.

”We’re still here.” A voice full of heavy breathing came from the other side.

At that moment, a large explosion could be heard through the Crystal, followed by a short silence.

”I’ll correct that...we won’t be here for long.” Ethan said again and then cut the Communication Crystal.

Silence returned, the Student Council President looked at the ground in silence, as if he was thinking, but even he did not know what he was thinking about.

What could he even do? All the lines were falling, and at the same time Marcus arrived, his right arm was no longer moving properly.

”We completely lost East Bridge.” And he gave them another terrible piece of news.

Rindo looked at the temporary map of Ashfall, the sections of Layer One had been crossed out.

Layer Two was almost completely lost, and now even the Outer Section of Layer Three had been broken in several places.

Only Inner Ashfall remained, the most central and most important fortress they had left, the place where if they lost it, they would practically lose this war.

And with this situation, it would not take long for the battle lines to reach here too.

Seraphina returned from the Reserve Position, the Mana around her hand was weaker, but her eyes once again went toward the distant east for a moment.

Toward the same path where Lian and Seris had gone ...

”Keep your focus here, for now we have to save ourselves.” Rindo noticed.

”I know, but if he doesn’t come back, none of this matters.”

”That’s why we have to stay alive until he returns.” The Student Council President nodded.

Seraphina finally looked at him but gave no answer.

The Horn sounded, and for a moment the Cindari attacks became weaker, some Units moved back a few steps.

The Humans used the opportunity to move the wounded.

Then Tavren Korr’s amplified voice spread through the area.

”Outsiders.”

Several Awakeners looked toward the East with exhaustion.

”Put down your weapons.” The Commander’s voice could be heard through all the streets.

”This is your last chance.”

Rindo climbed onto the central Barricade, there was fire around him, two bodies were lying beside the stairs and the wall behind him was broken.

”I told you, we have no problem handing over the city and leaving this place, but you blocked the roads.” He then said calmly.

They had already considered escaping if the situation became too bad, and they had also built several secret paths, but the siege was arranged in a way that they had no chance to do that.

And these bastards did not want to let them escape either, they wanted to capture them.

They could have escaped earlier, but would the final result have been any different? Where could they run to? They had a Quest that they had to complete.

The Giant Forest was so dangerous that they would be killed as soon as they entered, and going to Glassthorn Forest was not easy either, they would be surrounded before they could reach it.

”Your time is over, I told you that you only had twenty minutes to surrender, but you didn’t listen, this is your last chance to surrender.” Tavren stood in the distance, behind the Cinderhold Formation, and said calmly.

”We are not going to surrender.” Rindo said calmly.

”And now you have lost your last chance too.” The Horn sounded again, this time louder, and the Assault started again.

The Awakeners understood that they could no longer hold all of Inner Ashfall.

Every street they held meant losing more people, and now the important number was no longer Territory, it was Minutes.

So they activated the last big Trap.

”All Units in Sector Four retreat!.” Rindo picked up the Communication Crystal.

”Sector Four?” Marcus, who was beside him, immediately understood.

”Yes.”

”There are still buildings there.” Marcus looked toward the west, three streets, several large buildings.

”They have been evacuated.”

”Everyone retreat.” Rindo said loudly again through the Communication Crystal and then waited.

The Cindari thought the Humans had finally broken, hundreds of them entered Sector Four.

Heavy Infantry in front, Mages behind them, Root Units among them, and when the last group had almost completely entered the area—

”Blow it up!” Rindo said.

The explosives hidden under the main paths activated, for a moment the entire street was covered with red lines.

Then the ground collapsed!

Three large buildings fell toward the center of the street at the same time, the paths collapsed and hundreds of meters of the road were blocked by stone, iron, and debris.

The dust reached the central Plaza, many Cindari were trapped under the rubble and the rest were forced to retreat.

For several minutes, the western path was practically blocked, but the price was clear.

Ashfall became even smaller, there was no way back to Sector Four anymore.

Every Layer that Rindo burned only bought them a few minutes.