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Count Uman let out a sigh of relief. Colin’s attitude made him realize that he finally had a bargaining chip in his hand.

“Of course, I can’t give you the will now. You should understand why.”

Colin naturally understood that the other party was worried that he would renege after getting the will, so he inquired, “Then how can you prove the authenticity of this will? How do I know it’s not something you made up on the spot?”

“The will was shown to me by Derrington, the butler. At that time, I and Knight Louis had just arrived at Lion Roar Castle. I hadn’t determined the position of Butler Derrington, so I deliberately threw the will into the fireplace to destroy it in front of him.

Unexpectedly, not only did Butler Derrington not stop me, but he even looked pleased, and that’s when I understood that he supported Joyce’s claim to the dukedom.”

Colin was speechless and yelled angrily, “Since you’ve burned the will in the fireplace, why the hell are you telling me this?”

“No!” Count Uman quickly shook his head, “What I threw was a fake will, the real one had been swapped out when I turned to face the fireplace!”

Colin stared at Count Uman suspiciously, clearly questioning whether the other party really had such a magician’s technique.

“Believe me, it’s not difficult to do. All their attention was on the fake will that was thrown into the fireplace, and they had no idea that I had quietly hidden the real one.”

Colin shrugged his shoulders. He was unsure whether to believe Count Uman’s lies and proceeded to follow up with another question:

“Then why did you keep the real will? Don’t you hope Joyce will inherit the dukedom? Shouldn’t you be more eager to see this will, which was favorable to Vera, destroyed?”

Count Uman chuckled, “Colin, if it were you, would you burn such a perfect blackmail material?”

“Blackmail?” Colin suddenly understood.

The so-called blackmail, of course, referred to Joyce’s.

If in the future, Joyce successfully inherits the Northern Duke position, then this will becomes proof of his illegitimate power. Having this will in hand, Count Uman could better control Joyce.

After understanding this, Colin had to admire the cunning of the Count; he had a backup plan against everyone.

But it was normal. Given Count Uman’s usual modus operandi, he was initially a ambitious man who had no concept of loyalty and only sought to benefit himself.

Thus, it indeed could be possible that he hid the real will.

“Sorry, Count Uman. Unless I see the will you’re talking about with my own eyes, I won’t believe it,” insisted Colin.

Count Uman sighed and reluctantly said, “Fine, I can give you the will, but you have to give me something in return.”

“What is it?”

“Command authority of Golden Lion Legion!”

“Ha, you really do have big dreams!” Colin scoffed.

Count Uman hurriedly explained, “With this will, Joyce will have completely lost his qualification to compete for the inheritance with Vera. Therefore, the commanding power of the Golden Lion Legion isn’t that important to you.

But, I need this army to ensure that I won’t just be a discarded chess piece!

So, how about it? This condition isn’t a loss for you.”

Colin chuckled and mocked: “Count Uman, I think you may have misunderstood something.”

“What?” Count Uman was taken aback.

Colin slowly approached Count Uman who had collapsed on the ground, his tone turning icy: “In fact, that will… isn’t too important for me.”

“What do you mean?” Count Uman immediately panicked, “Don’t tell me you don’t want to see Vera inherit the position of Duke?”

“Of course I do. But I’ve found another way, so that will…heh, at best, it’s just an added bonus. But you want to sell it at a premium.

And also, I’ve been waiting nearly two years for revenge for that assassination.

Two years, do you think I’ll let go of you so easily?”

No longer able to stay calm, Count Uman yelled anxiously, “Colin, listen to me, it’s far more worthwhile to keep me alive than to kill me! I can help…”

Crack!

Colin snapped the other’s neck and said softly, “But I think you’re much more valuable dead.”

Finishing his words, he opened his mouth wide, exposing his sharp tusks and bit down.

“Gulp…gulp…”

The rain stopped, the wind ceased, even the moon revealed itself from amongst the clouds, shedding its cold light onto the land.

Inside the dilapidated warehouse, Colin lifted his head from Count Uman’s corpse.

Whew –

Letting out a satisfied sigh, his face was marked by an expression of pleasure.

Count Uman’s body had been thoroughly drained, looking exceptionally horrific.

Colin’s body became hot again, and fine droplets of blood sweat constantly seeped from his skin.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

His heart pounded ferociously, as if it would burst from his chest at any moment.

Raging torrents of blood surged through his body, almost rupturing his veins.

Luckily, having gone through the previous upgrade, Colin was now psychologically prepared for these extreme changes in his body. Even the bouts of intense pain seemed oddly enjoyable.

Starting from the Transcendent rank (Fourth level), Colin found that the requirements and the process of upgrading had significantly changed from before.

Before reaching the fourth level, he only needed to consume about one or two liters of fresh blood from a high-level knight to upgrade, and the process only involved mild heating of the body without any pain.

But from the fourth level onwards, he realized that he had to completely drain the fresh blood of a high-level knight to meet the upgrade conditions. Furthermore, the upgrading process became extremely intense and considerably painful.

Bang!

A ferocious-looking Colin launched a punch at the ground, causing spider-web cracks to instantly spread out in all directions.

His body began to swell again, with countless small beads of blood forming mysterious patterns on the surface of his skin.

Frenzied power engorged Colin’s body, making him eager to let it out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several punches smashed into the ground, causing the entire area to start shaking as if there was an earthquake.

The derelict warehouse now bore countless cracks and finally collapsed under the strain.

“Sir, the tremor just now came from here. We heard thudding sounds and several non-human howls. When we came to check, we found that buildings here had collapsed,” informed some residents of Winterfell City, leading a team of city defense soldiers to the ruins of the old warehouse.

Looking at the collapsed ruins before him, the captain felt a sense of heaviness in his heart.

He had just heard about the collapse over at the church, which had killed Mr. Thomas. Now there was another collapse here. He prayed no important figures were crushed this time…

“What used to be here? Was it occupied?”

“It was an obsolete warehouse, filled with unwanted items. There should be…no one living here.”

“What are you doing standing around? Hurry up, clear the ruins, and see if there’s anyone underneath!”

“Yes, sir!”

The team of city defense soldiers and residents worked until dawn. The first light of morning illuminated the ruins, and they finally unearthed two bodies.

More precisely, one body and one skull.

“Sir, that skull looks like… It’s Count Uman!”

“What?” The captain looked shocked.

Just as he was afraid of, something awful had happened. What on earth had happened in Winterfell City last night? Why had so many important people died?

“Why is there only a skull? Where’s the rest of the body?”

“We do not know, but we have searched the ruins thoroughly, and no other parts of the body were found.”

The captain looked serious. This could only mean that Count Uman had already been dead and decapitated before the collapsing ruins buried him.

“What about the other body? Whose is it?”

“We do not recognize it, but it appears to be a dwarf’s corpse.”

“A dwarf?” The captain stroked his chin and ordered, “Collect the bodies properly. We will report to Lion Roar Castle.”

“Yes, sir!”