"Matty!"
"On it!"
With quick and agile strikes, Matty delivered several slashes to the legs of the nearly three-meter-tall dog-like Monster that went by the name Gutspawn.
This was a Rank 4 World Boss Monster, the boss of the low-ranked Dungeon that the Golden Slayers Party had to complete as a commission from the Adventurer's Guild in the Capital City of Aeronwen.
Due to Aina's impressive management of her Guild, Eternal, the King of the Kingdom of Gweliven had upgraded her Guild's Status to Gold-Rank.
Because of this, they gained access to exclusive quests that were only available to Gold-Ranked guilds.
Emma, whom Lux had designated to look after the Dwarf children, stood on the sidelines with her arms crossed over her chest.
She was currently in the Initiate Rank and was paying close attention to the Monster that the Dwarves were facing.
If she sensed Colette and her party members were in danger, she would not hesitate to interfere. Having stayed with them for so long, she had started to treat them like her little brothers and sisters.
After being saved by Lux from Twilight Rain, Emma had been given the chance to use the Lycanthropy Mutation Perfect Genes to her advantage, which allowed her to transform into an Alpha Lycan and return to her Dwarf form whenever she wanted.
Although she was now an Initiate, the moment she transformed, she would become a Pseudo-Ranker, capable of killing the Rank 4 World Boss Monster without too much trouble.
"Step aside, Matty," Andy shouted before using a spell. "Fireball!"
Each member of the Golden Slayer Party was accustomed to everyone's fighting style that they only needed minimal communication in order to execute coordinated attacks that made their enemies suffer.
Matty smirked before rolling to the side of the dog-like Monster, just in time to evade a Fireball that collided directly with the monster's face, making it howl in pain.
"Water Spears!" Axel, the Water Mage of the Golden Slayers, unleashed several spears made of water, which mercilessly stabbed the body of the Monster, making it stagger.
"Holy Arrow!" Helen, who was the Cleric and healer of the party, didn't shy away from fighting and also used one of her offensive skills.
After her friends had been kidnapped by the Kobolds in the past, the little girl vowed that she would no longer be a helpless damsel in distress and trained herself to be a Combat Cleric.
This way, even if her attacks weren't as powerful as her teammates', she would at least still be able to protect herself if she found herself in a pinch.
"Grand Cross!" Colette shouted as she smashed her mace against the side of the Gutspawn's body, sending it skidding several meters away.
The blow was so strong that the Monster wasn't able to prop itself back up right away, allowing Robin, who had joined the Golden Slayers Party on this expedition, to give the killing blow with a swift strike of his bow and arrow.
"Power Shot!"
Robin's arrow flew straight and true, creating a green trail in its wake.
He was an expert marksman, and his arrow accurately hit the Gutspawn in the forehead, making the latter shout its dying howl before turning into particles of light.
"Nice shot!" Colette said with a smile. "Good work guys! We manage to clear this Dungeon easily."
"We could have tried the other high-ranking missions," Matty commented. "This isn't even a challenge to us."
"Don't be like that, Matty," Colette replied. "Never underestimate your enemies. If we bite off more than we can chew, we might regret our decision for the rest of our lives."
Matty glanced at Colette before nodding his head. There was once a party of six within the Eternal Guild that tried to challenge a higher ranking dungeon in order to impress Aina, as well as make a name for themselves.
Unfortunately, the Raid Boss was simply too strong for them, ending in a one-sided slaughter.
Only one of its members was able to escape alive and after that event, he left the Guild because the trauma of losing his close friends made him feel extremely guilty.
Although Aina immediately ordered the elite members of her guild to clear the dungeon and try to recover the bodies of her members, it was already too late.
The majority of Dungeons absorbed the bodies of those that died in battle. There was a saying that the Dungeons also served as the graveyards of Adventurers who were unlucky enough to die within its many floors.
"Good work, everyone," Emma said as she clapped her hands, praising the Dwarf children for their incredible teamwork. "I just received news from you-know-who, and he said that he will be coming to meet us soon. Do any of you want to meet him after we leave the dungeon?"
Colette brightened up after hearing Emma's words. However, this only lasted for a brief moment before a pout appeared on her face.
"Sister Emma, tell him that we are going to meet him tomorrow," Colette replied. "I want to make sure that I'm ready to face him."
Matty, Andy, Axel, and Helen all nodded their heads in agreement. They were Lux's first friends in Elysium, and they were very dear to him, just as he was dear to them.
However, the previous incident where he faked his death made them incredibly sad because they only heard about it a few days after the Half-Elf "died".
Because of this, they held a grudge against Lux for not trusting them enough to keep his secret.
After collecting the Boss Drops, the Golden Slayers Party left the dungeon and returned to the outside world.
Currently, they were in the Dungeon Town of Wisp Tree, where a giant tree was located.
This tree was also the entrance to the Dungeon. The Dwarves had built a town around it, making it one of the centers of trade in the Kingdom of Gweliven.
As soon as the Golden Slayers left the Dungeon entrance, they were greeted by someone who made Colette and Helen run toward her in order to give her a loving hug.
""Eiko!""
"Colette! Helen!"
The Baby Slime jumped off the head of the black knight, who was standing near the entrance, waiting for their return from the Dungeon.
Naturally, this Black Knight was none other than Diablo, who was now equipped with a Pseudo-Legendary Armor crafted by Randolph, according to Lux's suggestions.
"I missed you, Eiko." Colette lovingly rubbed her cheeks against the baby slime's body, making Eiko giggle.
"Me, too," Helen said as she gave Eiko a kiss on the cheeks.
"Miss you, too!" Eiko replied, as she too kissed Colette's and Helen's cheeks, making the hearts of the two Dwarves melt into puddles.
"D-Diablo?" Matty stood in front of the Black Knight who gave him a very familiar feeling.
Diablo raised his hand and lightly rubbed the Dwarf boy's head, making the latter smile.
"It has been a while, Matty," Diablo said.
"Y-You can talk now?!" Matty gasped in shock after seeing the drastic changes in Lux's First Born, who had fought alongside him in the past.
"Yes," Diablo replied. "And you've gotten quite a bit stronger as well. You're only thirteen, and you're already a Grade-A Apostle. Once Master knows about this, he will certainly be jealous of how fast you are growing."
Matty, who both hated and admired Lux, felt his cheeks burn due to Diablo's praise. In fact, after being saved by the Half-Elf during the Lycan incident of Twilight Rain, Matty no longer saw him as an annoyance because he had come to understand that Lux only thought of them as his little brothers and sisters.
"Where is he?" Matty asked.
"In an inn inside this town," Diablo replied. "Emma told us that you will only see him tomorrow, so he decided to have me escort Eiko to see you guys. She was quite excited to see you guys again, so Master deemed it best to let you guys meet her first."
Axel and Andy also approached Diablo after lightly patting Eiko's head, who was currently being cuddled to oblivion by Colette and Helen.
"How strong has Big Brother become?" Axel asked. "Is he already in the Initiate Rank?"
Diablo nodded. "Master is now at the peak of the Initiate Rank. After finishing his business here in the Kingdom of Gweliven, he will go on a pilgrimage in order to receive the World's Blessings and become a Ranker."
"Tell him that we will catch up to him soon!" Andy stated. "Next time, the ones who will be saving him will be us, and not the other way around."
Diablo chuckled after hearing Andy's reply. He didn't say that his Master didn't need to be saved by them because he had so many powerful Guardians to ensure his safety.
On the contrary, he even encouraged the Dwarf children to become stronger so that one day, there would come a time when they would be able to save Lux if he happened to fall into danger, which he and the rest of his Undead Comrades were unable to prevent.
Even those who stood at the peak of the world like Saints needed someone to rely on during times of great difficulty.
Diablo firmly believed that Colette and the others were fated to play a role in his Master's journey in this world.
Since that was the case, he decided to pass the Dwarf children's messages to his Master, who was now smiling inside his room as the red-headed teenager listened to Matty's, Andy's, and Axel's determination to surpass his Rank.
—----------
Somewhere in Wisp Tree Town…
"Is the target really in this town?" a Dwarf, wearing a black robe covering his face and entire body, asked.
"We have confirmed that Aina's little sister is here," a merchant replied. "I never thought that I would live to see the day when the Guildmaster would send one of his Slayer Candidates to personally deal with a mere Grade A Apostle."
"This just proves how important this mission is," the black-robed Dwarf stated. "Although it is beneath me to kidnap a brat, orders are orders."
The Merchant nodded his head.
The Slayers were an elite Assassination Group belonging to Twilight Rain, and all of its members were composed of Rankers.
This was the group that Scarlet, who was sent to assassinate Lux in the past, wished to be a part of.
Aina had been getting a lot of attention as of late because of her multiple accomplishments in the Kingdom of Gweliven.
Since she was a very talented individual, Twilight Rain had sent many envoys in order to poach her into becoming their partner in overthrowing the Royal Family's rule. However, Aina didn't want to be a part of it and rejected their offers.
After nearly exhausting all means to make the young Guildmaster agree to their request in a "peaceful" manner, they decided to resort to drastic measures, such as kidnapping Colette and using her as a bargaining chip to make Aina agree to their demands.
"Where is she now?" the black-robed man asked.
"Probably still inside the Dungeon," the Merchant replied.
Suddenly, the jewel on the Merchant's ring vibrated, informing him of the latest news about the person that he was supposed to keep an eye on.
"Congratulations," the Merchant said to the black-robed Dwarf with a smile. "It seems that the heavens are conspiring to make your mission a success. This girl, Colette, has just left the Dungeon. Perhaps her mission is already complete."
The black-robed Dwarf nodded his head before walking out of the door.
His mission was to capture Colette by any means necessary.
Since his target was already in the vicinity, he decided to go and pick her up, so he could complete the mission that was personally assigned to him by the Guildmaster of the Dark Guild, Twilight Rain.
The Merchant watched the black-robed Assassin go before shaking his head.
"If you want someone to blame, you can only blame yourself for being stupid," the Merchant said as he looked at the picture of Aina, who was pinned on the bulletin board on the wall of the room. "You should have accepted Twilight Rain's offer when we were still being nice. Now, you will understand the price of rejecting our offer."
The Merchant was one of Twilight Rain's informants who was working undercover in the Town of Wisp Tree.
However, no matter how wide their network was or how detailed the information they could gather, they were unable to gather any information about the Baby Blue Slime that was currently giggling in Colette's hands.
A Baby Slime that had the power to turn Wisp Tree Town upside down and crush the Ranker who belonged to the Dark Guild, who wished to harm one of her closest friends.
