"My lord, Su Yan has returned." The draconian priest came forth to report.
Zhang Nu nodded, "Let her in."
This Hero girl might be quite weak, but her usefulness is by no means small.
Without Su Yan constantly passing information along, there was no way that Zhang Nu could have known the enemy's plans and prepared counters ahead of time.
This particular pawn is quite useful and she'll have more chances to show her value in the future.
Given that, Zhang Nu wouldn't want her to end up dead.
The past few campaigns from the Heroes made it quite obvious that there was information leakage, so there was no way that the Ironblooded Heroes wouldn't have started suspecting the presence of a spy.
Su Yan, who had just joined the Ironblooded Heroes just recently, was very likely to become a suspect.
Therefore, Su Yan had been given the orders to withdraw before the attack on Giantree City.
Zhang Nu had burned the Ironblooded Heroes' headquarters to ash, and in the process, killed at least dozens of Ironblooded Heroes.
Su Yan had used this attack to set up a scenario faking her death and she thus easily escaped.
Although Su Yan did have the ability to disguise herself, so she could have switched to another identity to continue working, in the end, it was decided to call her back, just to be safe.
Zhang Nu had captured the city's lord, thus gaining the absolute initiative, so there wasn't much that Su Yan could have contributed even if she had continued to stay.
"Boss! I'm back!"
Su Yan entered the castle and greeted the Demon King.
Zhang Nu asked, "What's the current situation in Giantree City?"
Su Yan hurriedly replied, "Ever since you showed your might, the pervasive mood in Giantree city is one of nervousness and fear. The elves are practically insane with worry."
"Right!"
"When I was leaving, Du Mingfeng and Zheng Xiao had just escaped back in disgrace."
"When they saw that the Heroes Guild and the headquarters of the Ironblooded Heroes were destroyed, they practically exploded on the spot with rage!"
"Boss, your moves were just too perfect here!"
"The Hero factions near Giantree City have been greatly reduced and the Ironblooded Heroes Guild took even heavier losses. Their headquarters was lost with practically all hands!"
Su Yan was quite awed.
She had known that Zhang Nu was very strong for a long time now, but she never imagined that he was this strong.
Him single handedly striking into Giantree City, heavily damaging the Heroes' bases, and even kidnapped the city lord was practically a conga line of humiliation.
Be it the elves of Giantree City or the Ironblooded Heroes, all of them were pretty much utterly humiliated!
Su Yan once again cheered the fact that she had followed the right boss.
If she had joined up with a Hero boss like Du Mingfeng, then she likely would have ended up just like the Heroes in the Ironblooded Heroes' headquarters.
"Your contributions this time were considerable!"
"Go ahead and take these skill stones!"
Zhang Nu brought out four skill stones at once as he spoke.
Su Yan was overjoyed, "Wow, four of them and they're all fairly high leveled too! You're so generous, boss!"
"Such minor rewards matter little."
Zhang Nu spoke with an annoyed tone, "You're too weak. You can't even match up to one of my better soldiers. You need to get stronger as quickly as possible. Otherwise, how are you supposed to work for me properly!"
Su Yan hurriedly replied, "Yes! I'll definitely do my best! Please don't worry, boss!"
Zhang Nu considered the issue.
Su Yan had no outstanding tasks right now, so Zhang Nu decided to grant her a small squad and have her bring them to help her hunt monsters nearby.
A Hero doesn't necessarily have to kill Demon Kings to get stronger. They can gain Training Points by doing various training or killing monsters too.
Of course, hunting monsters for Training Points is much slower compared to the gains from killing Demon Kings.
Su Yan can't beat powerful monsters on her own, but it's different if she had a squad of draconians helping her. Her gains could easily multiply tenfold that way, so it's a very effective way to increase her strength steadily.
The next day, Zhang Nu got news of Giantree City's request for talks.
That was within expectations.
Their own lord was kidnapped by the Demon King, so Giantree City didn't dare to act recklessly or attack. Thus, their only choice is to attempt to save their city lord via diplomacy.
As for actually releasing her?
That's completely impossible.
That said, this is also the chance to squeeze as much out of Giantree City as they can though.
...
That day, in the forest, the First Elder and his group were waiting impatiently.
Then, a sky drake descended from the sky and landed before them, then turned into a draconian wearing a robe and holding a staff.
The First Elder frowned, "You're not the Demon King! We demand to speak with the Demon King!"
Li Si just calmly replied, "For a being as great as our lord to reply to your request is already bestowing you with a great honor. Do you really think that he's someone that mere ants like you can simply demand to see whenever?"
"You..."
An elven elder was enraged.
Li Si just sneered coldly, "What? Do you not want to talk anymore?"
The First Elder hurriedly stopped his companion.
Right now, the initiative is on the other side.
However, since the Demon King was willing to send someone to talk, it means that he's not completely unreasonable. So long as communication is possible, there's still room to recover.
The First Elder spoke, "We need to confirm our city lord's safety!"
Li Si tapped the air with his staff and a watery veil appeared before them. A somewhat clear image appeared within that veil.
At that moment, the elven city lord had manacles on her arms and legs, currently locked within the dark and cold prison.
When the elders saw that, they had a hard time keeping control over the anger in their hearts. The city lord's a descendant of the great and noble elf king. How could they have treated her so brutishly?
This is an insult to the elven race!
The First Elder's own expression was dark. He clenched his fists and forcefully pushed down his rage as he coldly spoke, "Speak. Just what do you want in order to return our city lord!"
Li Si spoke with utter calm, "My lord has little interest beyond Giantree City's loyalty and submission!"
The elves practically exploded upon hearing that.
"That's impossible!"
"To want the entirety of Giantree City?"
"That's completely impossible! Don't even think about it!"
The First Elder had a hard time holding back the killing intent in his eyes at that moment as well, "Hmph, your master's got quite the appetite. There's no way we can possibly agree to that!"
Li Si just calmly replied, "Is that so?"
The First Elder spoke, "So long as the City remains, there will be plenty more city lords to come. But if even Giantree City is gone, then what's the point of getting back a city lord? Don't you think that kind of demand is laughable!"
Li Si started laughing, "There's no need for you to pretend ignorance now. My lord has long since seen through it all. That elf's importance to you isn't so simple as simply being the city lord, right!"
At those words, everyone there, including the First Elder, visibly reacted.
The First Elder hurriedly schooled his expression, "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Li Si spoke bluntly, "That elf had awoken the elven king bloodline. She is the only elf king descendant in the entire Chaos Forest, as well as being the only hope for your elven race's revitalization. Am I right?"
With that, the First Elder turned completely pale.
His body shook, nearly unable to hold himself upright.
This secret is something only known by the innermost circle of the elves. All the elves who knew of it had signed a contract to keep the secret, so there shouldn't have been any possible way for that secret to have leaked!
But, why then does the Demon King know of this?
"Given such an important figure to the revival of the entire race, yet my lord is only demanding a single mere Giantree City. Is that really that high a demand?"
Li Si paused before continuing.
"I rather think my lord is being far too merciful here!"
It's over!
It's all completely over!
The elders' hearts fell.
This talk will definitely be extremely difficult.
The other side knows their greatest trump card, their biggest secret!
Now, they're making an outrageous demand, directly asking for the entire Giantree City... How the heck are they supposed to negotiate now?