"Alright, what exactly are you trying to say?"
Colin had reached the edge of the clearing, and [ the Ginseng Rooster ] uttered his final words:
"Lord Colin, we will win."
So confident?
Could such a thing really be arranged by [ Ginseng Rooster ]?
Colin was puzzled, but also felt it was completely impossible.
How could a mere staff member like him possibly convene a meeting, especially one using his own name? How could he possibly arrange for Grant to throw the game against him and be used as a stepping stone?
Even if he could actually do it, Balovi's death was definitely not fake...
If he can even control Balovi's life or death, then why doesn't he take the position of warlord himself?
Colin, who had long been misled by the Soul Returner and had developed an information gap, was unaware that:
Every victory I achieved while serving as a fortress knight and Bastion Lord, or rather, during the period when the Soul Returner were involved but had not yet arrived in the Demon Realm, was essentially a sham.
These were all fixed matches orchestrated by the Imperial and Alliance factions of Soul Returner Soul Returner in order to climb the ranks.
But perhaps it's better not to know. These false victories, though perhaps not of great use, at least gave Colin a little confidence for the moment.
Since I have won before, and since my men all believe I can win, then I will definitely win, and I will keep winning!
Thinking this, Colin approached Grant and slowly drew his knight's sword from his waist.
"Young man, is there anything else you wish to say? Perhaps I will spare your life."
Although Grant was only holding half a Broken Sword, his aura completely overwhelmed Colin.
Faced with this overwhelming sense of oppression, Colin simply gripped the hilt of his sword and whispered:
"Senior, there's no need to hold back."
"Between us—there is a distinction between superior and inferior, and a battle of life and death!"
[ Ginseng Rooster ]'s confidence is certainly not without basis.
Although he couldn't know about Balovi's death beforehand, he had already regarded Grant also possessed the [ Divine Wings ] relic, as Colin's strongest rival.
Therefore, he assigned an inconspicuous waiter to Grant's side.
The waiter's name was -- [ The Chosen of the Four Gods ].
Grant was very confident about today's outcome, so he arrived early, ranking among the top three of all the overseers.
Because they arrived early, a waiter would come forward to greet them and respectfully lead them to their assigned seats.
After being led to their seats, the dutiful waiters would stand behind the warlord, ready to give any further orders.
For the first few minutes, Grant felt a little out of place.
But later, seeing that many warlords had accepted the presence of servants, and that his own personal guards were difficult to command outside, he gradually got used to their presence as well.
Unbeknownst to him, as he carefully considered the details of his plan for the day, an inconspicuous waiter behind him was constantly absorbing his life force.
Ed currently wields vampire Authority that originally belonged to Adelaide: " Absolute Punishment " and Wens: " Drain."
Relying solely on " Absolute Punishment " to apply debuffs and deal DoT damage is too slow, while directly using Wens's " Drain " is very easy to detect.
But when these two seemingly unrelated Authority are combined, they give birth to one of the most disgusting creatures in the world—
mosquito!
[ Chosen of the Four Gods ] was the first vampire branch player to develop this playstyle.
On the " Drain " enhancement skill tree, [ Chosen of the Four Gods ] selected the " Absorption Efficiency Increase " entry.
On the " Absolute Punishment " skill tree, he chose the " Perception Reduction Specialization " branch.
The combination of the two creates a new playstyle: the Chosen of the Four Gods Mosquito Style.
Like a blood-sucking mosquito, while Grant was thinking, the [ Chosen of the Four Gods ] behind him simultaneously activated two abilities.
Grant's Vitality and vitality continuously flowed into the body of the [ Chosen of the Four Gods ], while Grant himself remained unaware of it under the influence of the Adelaide Lineage's power.
Unbeknownst to him, Grant had already had a large portion of his life force drained by the [ Chosen of the Four Gods ], leaving him in a false state of being full of power.
While this reduction in benefits wasn't enough to close the gap between Grant and Colin, at least they still had weapons.
Colin's weapon was also better, and through this trade-off, their strengths were basically balanced to the same level, with Colin even being slightly stronger.
Grant killed Balovi by surprise, so it can't be considered a test of his true strength, and he also failed to notice anything unusual about himself.
But in his fight with Colin, he will surely discover the problem with his own body, just like how you only realize a mosquito bite is hot and itchy after you've been touched.
Seeing that the two were on the verge of exchanging blows, [ Ginseng Rooster ] pulled out a small pear-shaped brass clock (a distinctive piece of equipment for Holy See tax collectors) from somewhere and held it high.
Without any explanation, the instant he struck the pear-shaped bell, making it ring crisply, Colin and Grant's figures simultaneously blurred, and they instantly became entangled in combat.
There are no special abilities, no Psionic Energy Manifestation, only hand-to-hand combat with every strike drawing blood.
Grant was a tall and strong man, and the broken sword in his hand looked like a dagger, which was disproportionate to his size.
But precisely because of this, his attacks were all the more intimidating, launching them like a nail board slamming into Colin's face, leaving Colin almost defenseless.
On the other hand, while Colin was also an outstanding skeleton, his skeletal structure was ultimately inferior to Grant's; the two were simply not in the same league.
But medieval-style duels wouldn't be categorized by body size.
Grant pressed forward relentlessly, and Colin could only rely on his instincts honed through years of combat, using his swift movements to constantly evade him.
But this can't go on; anyone can see that Colin is no match for Grant.
A fire blazed in the eyes of one of the warlords, as if he were ready to intervene at any moment to save Colin's life.
But the warlord beside him grabbed his shoulder, and when he turned his head, he quickly read words of advice in the other man's eyes:
"We're both Middle Tier, you might not be able to beat him."
Within half a minute of the battle beginning, Grant had already figured out Colin's fighting style.
The tall, muscular skeleton quickly changed tactics, separating the broken sword's attack from his own movements. As Colin dodged the slashes and thrusts, the skeleton relentlessly rammed into Colin, gradually reducing his space to dodge and maneuver.
One minute into the battle, Colin was cornered, as helpless as a king in chess forced into a corner.
Seeing that he had no room to retreat to either side, Colin gritted his teeth and decided to fight to the death.
The opponent's attack was powerful and heavy; I had been dodging it the whole time.
But now we can't hide anymore; we can only block. Only by blocking can we launch a counterattack!