"What?! There's a battle taking place at the Port?!" the Earl of Draycott gasped in shock. "Where are the Guards? Why aren't they interfering?!"

"My Lord, the members of the Adventurer's Guild talked to the Guard Captain to ask for permission for him and his men to encircle the perimeter of the Port, but they were told not to interfere."

The Earl of Draycott slammed his fist on the table before shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Why are they listening to the Adventurer's Guild?!" the Earl roared in anger. "This is my Domain, and I order the Guards to arrest those who dared to disrupt the peace of my city!"

The aide of the Earl had a conflicted look on his face before stating why the Adventurer's Guild had intervened.

"The Adventurer's Guild has been commissioned by the King to assist in the rescue of Princess Anastasia, who is currently being held by Rankers of a terrorist organization," the aide replied. "The Rankers of the Kingdom are also headed to your Earldom, My Lord, and they have been given explicit orders to take full command of the situation.

"According to the Guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild, all the cost for the repair of the Port will be shouldered by his Majesty. So, in order to protect the citizens of the city, the Guard Captain was ordered to evacuate everyone near the Port, so that there wouldn't be additional casualties from the clash between the Rankers of both sides."

The Earl almost slipped off his chair after hearing that Rankers were involved in the battle. The strongest fighters in his Domain were Initiates, and they were in no position to fight against those that had stepped among the powerhouses of the realm.

But, that was not the biggest issue of all.

"Princess Anastasia is kidnapped?" the Earl asked. "Are you sure that it is Princess Anastasia that is kidnapped?"

"Yes, My Lord," the Aide replied. "It is indeed the Princess."

The Earl slowly sat down on his chair after realization had hit him. He was one of Princess Anastasia's supporters, and for him, the Princess' safety was very important.

"Understood," The Earl replied. "Call the leader of my Elite Guards. I will ask them to coordinate with the Adventurer's Guild, as well as the envoys from the Royal Palace."

"Yes, My Lord."

---------

""Dragon's Breath!""

Two Dragon Breaths headed towards the hull of the ship in an attempt to destroy it.

However, before they could even arrive at their intended target, a Dwarf with reddish-brown hair jumped off the ship and blocked them both with his bare fists.

The Dragon Breaths that looked so powerful in the distance were dispelled easily, as if it was just a low-level spell that didn't have much destructive power.

However, after the Ranker had stopped the attack, he felt a pin-pricking pain that seemed to puncture his soul, which made him arch an eyebrow.

"Abyss Touch," Harrus muttered. "It seems that someone is asking for an early death."

The Ranker stomped his foot on the ground, and instantly hurled himself towards one of the houses where the black-robed figures were.

He had a sneer on his face because he found it quite laughable that a mere Grade A Apostle had dared to attack a boat where several Rankers were stationed.

Seeing that the Ranker was approaching, one of Lux's Doppelgangers immediately jumped off the house, down where a Rock Golem was waiting to catch him.

A moment later, the Doppelganger was thrown away by the Rock Golem to a safe location, just before its entire body was smashed to pieces by the Ranker.

"Petty tricks," Harrus sneered as he once again stomped his foot to lunge at the black-robed attacker.

Due to his speed, he managed to close the gap in mere seconds and unleashed his fist to smash the black-robed individual without holding back.

But just before the moment of impact, corpses of several horned rabbits and other low-leveled monsters were released from the Doppelganger's storage ring, hovering around the Doppelganger, as well as the Ranker that was about to smash his body into meat paste.

The other Doppelganger, who was standing on one of the houses near the Port, pointed his finger at the corpses in the distance and detonated them.

"Corpse Explosion!"

Just like a lit matchstick that was thrown into a box of fireworks, several explosions filled the sky, creating a dust cloud that blocked everyone's view.

"Well played. That felt quite a bit ticklish."

The smoke parted and Harrus appeared with minor blood stains on his clothes. The corpse explosion had detonated the corpses that Lux had prepared beforehand in an attempt to hurt their opponent, but he hadn't been able to gather a lot of dead monsters because they were in a hurry.

Because of this, the full power of the Chain Explosion wasn't realized. But, that was enough. It allowed the Half-Elf to gauge the effect of his attacks against a Ranker without holding back.

'As expected, Rankers are tough nuts to crack,' Lux thought as he watched the battle from a distance. 'Still, I doubt that you got out of that unscathed.'

A sneer appeared on Lux's face as he looked at the seemingly unaffected Ranker, who had dispersed the smoke that blocked his view.

Abyss Touch was an attack that directly targeted the soul. No matter how tough your defenses were, it was something that couldn't be brushed off so easily.

This was what made Abyssal Monsters very difficult to kill. Only those that could resist their soul-based attacks would be able to endure their relentless assault, just like the Dragon Race and other Mythical Races that had a high resistance against the attacks from the Abyss.

Just as Lux had assumed, Harrus did indeed suffer a bit due to the Corpse Explosion. Although he said that it was ticklish, in truth, he wasn't as composed deep inside.

'I hate dealing with these Abyss Touched bastards!' Harrus cursed internally.

It was not only Lux and Nero that had gained the power of the Abyss by absorbing the Beast Cores of Abyssal Monsters. There were many of them, and they were the bane of Rankers who specialized in defenses.

Harrus was an offensive fighter and preferred to destroy Abyss Touched opponents before they could hurt him. But, right now, he was feeling a little annoyed because the one that he was facing wasn't even a Ranker, but a mere Apostle, whose attacks were now getting on his nerves.

"Is that all you've got?" Harrus asked as he looked at the robed-figure who was still standing on the roof.

The moment he had disposed of one of the two Doppelgangers, he realized that his opponent was just using clones against him, ticking him off even further.

Hearing no answer from the Apostle, Harrus clicked his tongue and took a fighting pose. A moment later, he unleashed a single punch.

The punch didn't look like much and even looked as if someone was casually just throwing a punch just for the sake of it.

However, what happened next made Lux realize that he wasn't just fighting a Ranker, but a High-Ranker.

The house, as well as every other structure that was dozens of meters around it were instantly decimated as if they had been hit by a giant cannonball.

Naturally, Lux's clone was destroyed before it could even use one of the tricks that he had prepared beforehand.

Seeing that his two Doppelgangers had been destroyed, Lux sneakily made his escape in order to not catch the Ranker's attention.

'Asmodeus, Plan B,' Lux said as he made his getaway.

'Understood, Master,' Asmodeus replied.

The Archlich raised his hand, and the attacks of the cannons stopped firing.

Asmodeus' Doppelgangers stood behind the original one, and the three of them raised their hands at the same time.

"Skeleton Make"

-------

Inside the Twilight Ship.

"SkeletoMake" Eiko said softly. "Bone Bomb!"

A moment later, a round Bone ball appeared in front of Eiko, and the latter rolled it on the hull compartment of the ship, in a place where it couldn't be seen right away.

"Skeleton Make Bone Bomb!"

"Skeleton Make Bone Bomb!"

"Skeleton Make Bone Bomb!"

"Skeleton Make Bone Bomb!"

The baby Slime, as well as her two helpers, Rocky (Earth Slime) and Saber (Saber Slime), all rolled the Bone Bombs into the key locations within the ship.

Eiko could detonate these balls anytime as long as she was within a two-mile radius of the ship, flooding its Hold Compartment within seconds.

Lux and Millie were attacking the ship relentlessly to cause a diversion, allowing Eiko and her Slimes to carry out their missions.

Now that the First Phase of the plan had been carried out, which was to secure Cai, Keane, and Clyde, the Second Phase of the Plan was about to start.

After planting as many Skeleton Bombs as possible, Eiko double checked her work for the last time before using her teleportation skill to instantly teleport to Lux's location, marking the success of her mission to rescue her friends, as well as the Baron's Second Son.

"Good job, Eiko," Lux praised the baby Slime who had appeared beside him. "Let's go to a safe place first before you unload them, okay?"

"Pa!" The baby Slime nodded in understanding.

As the Half-Elf and the baby Slime made their way to the center of the city, where it was safe, Asmodeus had given Millie the signal that the First Phase of their operation was a success.

Although she was reluctant to leave because the Princess was still not saved, the green-haired Dwarf retreated because Lux had promised her that he would do everything in his power to help rescue Princess Anastasia, once their reinforcements had finally arrived.