My Goblin System : Levelling up with my SSS Class Devouring skill

But Seraphina’s corruption specialists didn’t use conventional torture.

One specialist placed a hand on the infiltrator’s forehead. Corruption magic flowed directly into his mind—not causing pain, but creating absolute certainty that resistance was futile.

The infiltrator’s eyes went wide as the magic worked on his consciousness, stripping away layers of trained resistance, exposing the naked truth beneath all the professional conditioning.

"Tell us Elric’s strategic plan," the specialist commanded.

The infiltrator’s mouth moved against his will, words spilling out in a monotone: "Commander Elric is under orders to destroy the settlement within one week. Political pressure from the king. The campaign cannot drag into a prolonged siege due to resource allocation to other fronts."

"What are his tactical intentions for tomorrow?"

"Unknown." The infiltrator’s voice was flat, empty. "We were expendable specialists. Not briefed on command-level strategy. Our mission was single-purpose: destroy food supplies. We were not expected to survive or return."

"What assets does the human army have that we haven’t seen yet?"

"Siege equipment. Towers, rams, artillery. Standard siege warfare assets. Exact deployments unknown—we were infiltrators, not tactical planners."

The specialist tried different angles, extracting what information existed: general troop strength, officer names the infiltrator had overheard, supply estimates based on what he’d observed at the camp, morale assessment from conversations with regular soldiers.

But on tomorrow’s specific battle plans? Nothing. The infiltrators had been kept deliberately ignorant of operational details to prevent exactly this scenario—captured infiltrators revealing strategic plans under interrogation.

After thirty minutes, they had useful intelligence on the human army’s general capabilities and political constraints, but no concrete tactical plans for Day Three.

The second infiltrator—the one who’d been wounded by the spear—broke faster. Without the lead infiltrator’s decades of counter-interrogation training, he talked freely once the corruption magic touched his mind.

But he confirmed the same frustrating truth: "We were expendable. Shadow Corps specialists don’t get briefed on army-wide tactical plans. We’re tools. Use once, dispose. Commander Elric doesn’t share his strategy with tools."

By the time interrogation was complete, Lyra had useful intelligence about constraints and capabilities, but no specific knowledge of tomorrow’s assault plan.

"The prisoners have given us what they know," Seraphina reported to Lyra through the telepathic network. "Elric’s under political pressure to end this within a week. The human army has siege equipment we haven’t seen yet—towers, rams, artillery. But the infiltrators were expendable specialists. They weren’t briefed on tomorrow’s tactical plans."

"So we’re blind on specifics," Lyra concluded, disappointment evident in her mental voice.

"We have constraints and capabilities. That’s still valuable. We know Elric has a one-week deadline. We know he has siege equipment available. We know tonight’s failures will force him to escalate."

"But we don’t know how he’ll escalate."

"No. So you’ll have to predict it." Seraphina’s mental presence carried absolute confidence. "Based on what you know of Elric’s command style, his constraints, his capabilities—what will he do tomorrow?"

Lyra was silent for a long moment, her strategic mind racing through scenarios, analyzing patterns, predicting moves like a chess master planning twelve steps ahead.

"He’ll go all-in," she said finally. "Not cautious probing anymore. Full assault with overwhelming force."

"Explain your reasoning."

"Political pressure means he can’t afford a prolonged siege. Tonight’s raids cost him forty-seven soldiers, including high-value specialists—officers, battle mages, engineers. His cautious approach is bleeding him through attrition." Lyra’s mental voice grew more certain as she worked through the logic. "He’s lost over four hundred soldiers in two days. At this rate, we’ll bleed him to the point where he can’t maintain offensive operations before his one-week deadline expires."

"So he changes tactics."

"He has to. The cautious, methodical approach worked when he thought he had time. But we’ve shown him he doesn’t have time. Every day he waits is another day we raid his camps, kill his specialists, burn his supplies." Lyra moved tactical markers on her mental map. "Tomorrow he commits heavy forces. Probably half his army—somewhere between fifteen hundred and two thousand soldiers in a coordinated assault designed to break Second Line through overwhelming pressure."

"You’re guessing."

"I’m predicting based on rational analysis of his constraints and incentives." Lyra’s golden eyes showed the intense focus of someone running complex tactical simulations in her mind. "If I were Elric, facing a one-week deadline, hemorrhaging specialists to night raids, watching my methodical siege tactics fail—I’d escalate to decisive assault. Commit overwhelming force. Break the enemy’s main defensive line before they can hurt me further."

"What if you’re wrong?"

"Then I’ve prepared for heavy assault and he sends light probes, which means we’re over-prepared and waste defensive resources. Better than being under-prepared when he commits his army." Lyra’s strategic calculus was ruthless. "I’d rather defend against an attack that doesn’t come than fail to defend against one that does."

Seraphina’s mental presence radiated approval. "Sound reasoning. So tomorrow we prepare for maximum assault."

"Siege towers—he probably has them. They’re standard siege equipment for assaulting fortified walls. Artillery bombardment to soften defenses. Alchemical weapons to clear defenders. Then mass infantry assault backed by whatever battle mages survived tonight’s raid." Lyra was building a mental picture of tomorrow’s battle based on tactical probability rather than captured intelligence. "We need to prepare for all of it."

"Can we hold against two thousand soldiers?"

"We have to," Lyra said simply. "Because Loki’s reinforcements are still three days away. If we break tomorrow, we lose everything."

"Then tomorrow we don’t break."

Hour Twenty-Three:

Lyra immediately began converting her predictions into concrete defensive preparations, broadcasting through Seraphina’s telepathic network to all section commanders.

"All commanders—intelligence assessment complete. We don’t have specific tactical plans from the prisoners, but we have enough to make solid predictions."

She began laying out her analysis:

"Elric is under political pressure to end this siege within one week. He’s lost over four hundred soldiers in two days, including critical specialists. His cautious approach is failing. Logical conclusion: tomorrow he escalates to decisive assault."

"How heavy?" Vex asked.

"My estimate: half his remaining force. Somewhere between fifteen hundred and two thousand soldiers in coordinated assault across all sectors simultaneously. He’ll try to overwhelm us with numbers and break Second Line in a single massive push."