Six knights in glittering silver armor, each nearly three meters tall.
Their bodies were covered in exquisite silver armor, and a pair of metal wings sprouted from their backs, allowing them to glide at high speeds through the air, rapidly closing in from afar.
The contours of their face guards all bore a striking resemblance to Byron.
This was the signature ability of the Gold Sequence Mithril Knights at the Third Order—Mithril Guard.
The Regent King had received a temporary boost through the Golden Law; his Class was instantly elevated by one Order.
The leading two Knights wielded Knight's Spears, the middle two carried Great Swords, and the rearmost two handled heavy Crossbows shimmering with silver light.
Before they even touched the ground, two bolts, comparable to those from Siege Crossbows, became streaks of silver light in the night, vanishing in a flash.
When they reappeared, they had brutally pinned the two weaker members of the trio, the Throwing Knife Clown and the Bomb Clown, to the wall.
The agility that allowed them to leap through complex structures as if flying was completely useless in the face of absolute power.
"KEH KEH... KEH!" The two once-arrogant invaders continued to emit eerie, dreadful laughter before drawing their last breath.
Initially, Catherine could only summon three Mithril Guards.
But now, the number had suddenly surged to six.
This clearly indicated a significant increase in her wealth.
In fact, the assets of Pioneer Guiding Colonial Trading Company had grown far more than just double, but there were many expenses.
Most of the limited wealth had been reinvested into limitless industries.
The only benefit, perhaps, was like gripping a chunk of fat in one's hand. Wiping it once might seem like nothing had been lost, but you would end up with something extra on your hand—grease.
The same was true for Mithril.
A byproduct of silver, it never exists alone. Rich deposits have a ratio of about one thousand to one, and even trace amounts are present in the silver circulating on the market.
Conventional technology of the common folk could hardly extract it. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novᴇlfire.net
But for Mithril Knights, this was no trouble at all.
Many of the unrefined silver ingots on Yucatan Island just happened to be processed through Pioneer Bank.
Especially for those small-scale savers who simply deposited money and lacked refining capabilities—charging a 'Mithril processing fee' was far more profitable than lending.
These multiple Mithril golems were not only swift as the wind but also possessed immense power.
Catherine had differentiated them into various army types for long, medium, and close-range combat. This allowed them to cooperate effectively in battle, and even artillery could do nothing against them.
Indeed, wealth could shatter all techniques!
This was also Catherine's first all-out public display of strength since the opening of the International Port, blessed by the Rank of Golden Law.
"Ocean creatures, come forth!"
At the edge of the battlefield, her own tall figure appeared, also clad in close-fitting silver armor.
In her hand, she held aloft a Bone Talisman as ripples of water-hued Divine Light spread.
Giant clams, sea turtles, starfish, and whales from the nearby waters gathered at the shore, sending vast columns of water onto the burning spots.
The fires in nearby buildings were rapidly extinguished.
This was one of the fine talismans personally crafted by Violet, the "Whale Bone Talisman: Tide-Player."
Its effect was to temporarily command schools of fish and even Low Order Demon Monsters in the sea, similar to a Beast Tamer.
It was also one of the talismans this prospective Calamity Witch was most skilled in creating.
Of course, if they had already obtained the Rain God Chuck from the thirteen Crystal Skulls, there would have been no need for such effort.
She held complete royal Authority—granted by the Golden Law—over people, land, and even the heavens. A single thought was enough to induce a torrential downpour within the Royal Domain.
Even capturing a few water-aspected Nature Spirits to bring back would be more efficient than summoning schools of fish.
Beneath the moonlight, the young woman who had resolved the crisis in an instant appeared as breathtakingly beautiful as a Valkyrie, her strength terrifyingly formidable.
Onlookers from various factions around the harbor couldn't help but be surprised.
"Is this Earl so powerful?"
"When did she advance to the Third Order of the Middle Sequence? I've been stationed at the International Port; how could I have no idea?
With such power, wouldn't she have no problem taking on two ordinary Third Orders at once?"
"And how much Mithril is needed for these six three-meter-tall Mithril Guards?
Beautiful, wealthy, and powerful—she truly lives up to her reputation, yet her situation is different from what the black market intelligence reports."
"That's right, I also bought intelligence; they even said the International Port is like a fat pig.
The easiest place to get the treasure map would be here."
"If the Bone-Eating Clown hadn't struck first, I might have been the unlucky one."
Various voices were gathered by the Golden Law and delivered to Catherine's ears, making her realize almost immediately that the clown's actions were not happenstance.
Someone is behind the Bone Gobble Joker, at least luring or misleading them. Most likely, some faction is targeting us!
If one were to ask who the brightest jewel of the Bantaan Archipelago had been recently, it would undoubtedly be her, the Lord of the International Port, the Mithril Dragon, the Flower of the North, Catherine.
And what was the hottest topic?
It would certainly be Silvergold Island, a symbol of boundless wealth!
Byron had possessed an original Nautical Chart for a long time, but that didn't mean the chart wasn't precious to others.
Countless factions from overseas, upon hearing the news, all wanted to get their hands on a treasure map to get a share of the loot from Silvergold Island.
Many also bought intelligence through various channels.
The gist of the intelligence was similar: the International Port had a mix of personnel and was weak in defense. However, because trading was sufficiently free, the black market was not lacking in treasure maps for sale.
It was a rare opportunity.
With behind-the-scenes manipulators fanning the flames, the fat and oily International Port suddenly seemed to become the target of many.
As a result, most people thought that the International Port was just a sandcastle piled on the beach, unable to withstand any wind or rain.
A single wave could turn it back to grains of sand, to be divided and devoured by the predators who had been lying in wait for a long time.
But now, reality had dealt them a harsh blow.
Many began to retreat quietly.
When the Marines entered the city to maintain order, they quickly seized the opportunity to slip away and hide once more.
Catherine had no time to pay attention to what these people were thinking.
After extinguishing the fire and saving her recently developed, hard-earned property, she was still fuming with rage and waved her hand fiercely, "Kill them all!"
Fearing that the two Low Order clowns nailed to the wall were playing dead, a Great Sword Knight decapitated them with one stroke.
However, the blood, red faintly tinged with green and orange, befuddled Catherine and the nearby peeping onlookers.
The other five Knights immediately surrounded the last Third Order clown, the leader of the Clown Pirate Group, the Bone-Eating Clown Koraskin.
A series of halos burst from their armored forms.
Extreme Speed, Sharpness, Strength of the Bull...
Even though his Third Order ability, Clown's Trickery, possessed enigmatic and transcendent effects—enabling the five magical tricks of vanishing, Transformation, prediction, levitation, and X-ray vision—Koraskin could only be pressed and beaten.
Even that sharp, terrifying laughter was no longer so coherent. KEH... KEH... KEH...
His body swelled like a balloon, only to be immediately pierced with a large hole, deflating on the spot. Or it shrank like a mouse, but the tireless, bright blade storm still left him with no place to hide.
When he attempted to leap into the air, the Mithril Guards were faster.
Playing cards, like Flying Swords, could slice through steel but were powerless against Mithril.
Even the constant stream of explosive "gifts" he pulled out from seemingly bottomless pockets could not harm the Mithril capable of withstanding direct cannon fire.
Clearly, reality was not a game, and there was no such thing as combat power balance between different Classes.
Some Classes are simply stronger than others.
Moreover, 'money power' itself was one of the most potent transcendent abilities in the Mortal World, capable of realizing ninety-nine percent of its miracles!
Yet even in such a dire situation, the Bone-Eating Clown Koraskin was still laughing.
The piercing laughter was excruciatingly grating on the eardrums.
"KEH KEH... you think the Clown has failed? No, the Clown will never lose!"
If he weren't still talking, able to communicate like a Human, the onlookers couldn't help but suspect this fellow had already transformed into some kind of malevolent Bizarre.
That was until he laughed maniacally, grabbed by the limbs by the five Mithril Guards who then exerted their strength and tore him limb from limb in an instant!
But when a shower of multi-colored paint, instead of blood, splattered down, this suspicion reached its peak.
Meanwhile, among the gift boxes scattered behind Catherine, one box quietly opened, and two ghastly pale hands suddenly reached for her calf.