The city walls of Cedar City were still draped with the flag of the Holy Dragon Empire, and soldiers were patrolling on top of the wall. People were moving in and out of the city gate. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

The merchant group slowly approached from a distance. After showing their identities, they headed directly toward the city center. However, Count Stanwin remained vigilant. He looked at the people behind the city gate and did not spot anything amiss, so he finally let down his guard.

"Very well, we'll rest for a night in Cedar City. Tomorrow morning, we'll depart for Holy Dragon City."

"Boom."

Suddenly, everyone turned their heads and realized that, unbeknownst to them, the massive city gate had been closed. To top it off, the soldiers who were guarding the city appeared to be watching the merchant group cautiously.

"This isn't good. Leave Cedar City!"

Count Stanwin was the first to detect the anomaly. Immediately, he wielded his fourth-form shapeshifting and transformed into a ferocious Deinosuchus. He turned around and was about to force open the city gate.

"Count Stanwin, I heard that the Deinosuchus beast is incredibly powerful but my Golden Python is also immensely potent. I wonder, which one of us will prevail?"

A fourth-form shifter emerged from the group of soldiers guarding the city wall. He had shapeshifted into a massive python over thirty meters long. The python's scales were covered in a golden shimmer, just like real gold.

"Golden Python? You're Orsato. You've conquered Cedar City?"

Count Stanwin's face changed dramatically. He was quite familiar with Orsato, who was a rebel army leader with the Golden Python bloodline. Now that Orsato had conquered Cedar City, he merely wanted to trick the merchant group into entering Cedar City.

"Count Stanwin, don't be in such a hurry to leave. It was a great effort for us to trick you into the city. How can we allow you to leave so easily?"

Orsato appeared to be full of confidence. At the same time, the Python Army who was in the city swarmed out and surrounded the merchant group. As for Count Stanwin's heavy knights, they could not wield their full abilities in such a small enclosed space. Suddenly, chaos ensued, resulting in several heavy knights falling to the ground.

"You can't stop me!"

Count Stanwin growled in rage. Without hesitation, he rushed toward Orsato. He knew that only by breaking down the city gate, the merchants and the three hundred knights would be able to escape.

"Good, very good. Let me see how powerful the Deinosuchus beast is!"

Orsato was not the least intimidated. His huge body swayed like a whip before lashing out at Count Stanwin.

"Bam."

Both opponents collided head-on. Count Stanwin's enormous Deinosuchus body was shrouded in a layer of crimson glow and became even more formidable than before.

"Get lost!"

Count Stanwin roared. His solid body slammed against the Golden Python, and Orsato felt slightly overpowered and retreated a distance away.

"Good, good, good. It's not surprising this is the Deinosuchus. However, this is merely the beginning. Deadly Constriction!"

Orsato was also a fourth-form shifter, not at all inferior to Count Stanwin. His Golden Python possessed incredible strength. Currently, Orsato had mobilized every last ounce of strength in every inch of his long body. As quick as a golden flash of light, he had constricted Count Stanwin's movement.

"Crack."

The Golden Python's constriction was truly fearsome. Despite the Deinosuchus body's impenetrable skin, he seemed unable to withstand the Golden Python's constriction.

Count Stanwin's body was being crushed slowly. The Deinosuchus could detonate a huge amount of power if stimulated with enough blood, but now that he was trapped in the Golden Python's deadly constriction, it was impossible. He could not think of a way to tear apart the Golden Python's body.

Thus, Count Stanwin began to lose, and gradually, every bone was being crushed by the Golden Python, bit by bit.

"Haha, so what if it's the Deinosuchus bloodline? Die!"

Orsato's eyes were filled with an insane streak. There had been more than one mid-tier almighty beast bloodline who died by his hand. He was the true top contender of all the fourth-form shifters among the mid-tier almighty beasts. Even Count Stanwin could not match up to him.

Sensing the gradual loss of life force from his body, Count Stanwin's mind was filled only with Leon. Leon was his hope, and the heir of his bloodline.

"Leon, I can't accompany you any more…"

Count Stanwin's eyes turned bloodshot as he stared straight at Orsato. Although Count Stanwin was dying, that look gave Orsato a chill.

"Full-shift, Kiss of Death!"

Count Stanwin roared. Immediately, all the blood from his body gushed out and formed a crimson flame that seemed to be burning.

At the same time, the last part of Count Stanwin which was left unchanged – his forehead – finally began to shapeshift. This was forced shifting, which in return consumed his life force.

Normally, forced shifting did not guarantee any increase in ability. However, a peak fourth-form existence such as Count Stanwin would surely be able to achieve full-shift through forced shifting and bloodline incineration, even if it was just for a split second.

Count Stanwin's vicious mouth curved into a smile.

"Snap."

The Kiss of Death bit the Golden Python. There was a spray of blood and tissue. The Golden Python was almost completely severed. If that happened, Orsato would either be killed or sustain a grievous injury.

"Pity…"

However, a forced shifting was extremely short-lived, basically just a momentary triumph. Hence, a small portion of the Kiss of Death had only been wielded when Count Stanwin's blood was rapidly incinerated and turned bright red. Finally, with a "tsss", it sizzled, and the Deinosuchus body fell dead onto the ground.

Count Stainwin had lost all life force. He was dead!

"Honorable General, how are you faring?"

Orsato's men had finally defeated the three hundred heavy knights and came to his rescue. Looking at his exhausted appearance, they were slightly anxious.

"Count Stanwin's Deinosuchus bloodline was indeed fearsome. I almost died alongside him!"

Orsato's face displayed a sneer but in his heart, he was extremely shaken. Previously, no matter how powerful his enemy, Orsato usually fought with confidence and emerged victorious.

This time, although he ultimately won the fight, the sensation of brushing so closely against death, unleashed by Count Stanwin at the final moment, was something he would never forget.

"Go, rip Count Stanwin's body into eight and feed him to the dogs!"

Orsato's tone was filled with cruelty. In the end, Count Stanwin gave him a heavy blow. Most probably, he would have to recuperate for a few months.

Thinking of that, Orsato felt a surge of anger in his heart. Since he could not vent it out, he would have to take it out on Count Stanwin's body instead.

…

"Splash."

From the Nourishment Pond, an incomparably huge beast emerged.

"The third-form shift. The Blood-eye Dragon from the high-tier bloodlines is truly powerful. The natural order of this Latitude Cosmos is completely different from the Void Zone. Here, the destructive power is relatively limited. Nevertheless, my current strength should be enough to smash a mountain."

This almighty beast was none other than Merlin in shapeshifting state. He had already brewed ten batches of the Hermani Nourishment Pond from the materials he had obtained. All of them had been used up.

He also had absorbed the ten Nourishment Pond formula given by Heroult, called the Solbar formula. However, even after so many Nourishment Pond formulas, Merlin had only managed to achieve the third-form of the Blood-eye Dragon.

Nevertheless, the Blood-eye Dragon was a high-tier almighty beast, so its third-form was sufficient to kill many other almighty beast bloodlines.

"Master Leon, there's someone outside from Bay City Chamber of Commerce asking for you. It seems that he brings news about the Honorable Count."

Suddenly, outside the basement door, Merlin heard the old butler's voice.

Merlin was brewing the Nourishment Pond in the laboratory, thus, no one was allowed to disturb him except for important matters.

"News about Father? Please ask him to wait in the living room. I'll come up immediately."

Merlin had not heard anything from Count Stanwin for three months. Back then, Count Stanwin had mentioned that protecting the merchant group should only take three months, and they would return then.

However, after three months had passed, Count Stanwin still did not return. No one knew what had happened.

Merlin was not too worried. Not only did Count Stanwin have three hundred heavy knights to protect him but he also possessed the bloodline of a mid-tier almighty beast and had achieved peak fourth-form shifter.

Unless they had encountered someone close to a full-shifter or an onslaught of multiple shifters of the same level, otherwise, they could simply escape without injury.

With that, Merlin retracted his shapeshift form. He selected a set of black aristocratic clothes, exited the basement, and headed directly to the living room.

There was an old man with grayish-white hair in the living room. He held an elegant cane and fidgeted anxiously in the chair while waiting.

Merlin walked into the living room and asked curiously, "Who are you?"

"Master Leon, I'm Bartamath from Bay City Chamber of Commerce. We've just received news that Count Stanwin, who was protecting our merchant group, as well as his heavy knights and the merchants in the group, had perished. No one survived…"

"Crash."

There was a crisp sound as the glass of water in Merlin's hand was instantly crushed into dust. From Merlin's body, a chilling aura began to rise.