I Built a Divine Zoo in Another World

Chapter 122: The King’s Guards

The forest trembled with every step of the advancing formation.

Clavor and Count Hark led the front line like two blades capable of splitting the battlefield itself.

The path carved open by their techniques was immediately flooded by new rats, but the twenty soldiers prevented the horde from completely closing it again.

The sound of steel slicing through flesh was constant, accompanied by the agonized screeches of the creatures falling beneath their blades. With every strike, more dark blood splattered across the ground, and the scent of death grew stronger.

"Don’t stop!" Hark roared as his spear pierced another monster.

Lukas kept his eyes fixed on the direction where he had sensed that terrifying presence.

Even through the smoke of the wildfire, his Eagle Vision could see far beyond the range of any ordinary person. The enormous figure was still there... No. It was moving.

"Father!" Lukas shouted.

Clavor cut down two rats with a single swing before answering.

"What is it?"

"It’s retreating! It’s going deeper into the forest!"

Count Hark heard the boy’s words. A smile appeared beneath his beard.

"So it knows we’ve found it."

The horde’s response confirmed that suspicion. Until then, the rats had attacked from every direction with no apparent organization. Now... everything changed.

The monsters stopped trying to kill the humans. Instead, they began trying to delay them. Dozens of enormous rats hurled themselves against ancient trees. Thick trunks cracked loudly.

CRAAACK!

A gigantic pine tree crashed down directly in front of the formation. The soldiers were forced to slow down to climb over the obstacle.

Before they could finish... another tree fell. Then another. It was as though the forest itself was trying to stop their advance.

"They’re buying time!" one of the soldiers shouted.

Clavor leaped onto the fallen trunk. His sword flashed. A single strike split the tree in half.

"Then move faster!"

The formation broke into a run once more. Rats the size of wolves leaped directly at Clavor and Hark. They weren’t trying to break through. They weren’t even trying to survive. They grabbed their weapons. They bit into their armor. They sacrificed their own lives just to slow them down for a few seconds. It was completely different from the behavior they had shown before.

"It’s directing every single movement..." the support mage murmured.

The wind mage raised his staff. Blasts of wind tore dozens of rats from the trees. Moments later, spears of ice carved open another corridor. Even so... the horde seemed endless.

Lukas continued watching ahead. The King was still retreating. Always maintaining a distance of roughly one kilometer. Never closer. Never farther. As though it were leading the group somewhere.

A chill ran down his spine.

"It wants us to keep following..."

No one answered. But Clavor had realized it as well. Even so, neither of the two leaders slowed down. If it was a trap... they would destroy it along with the Rat King itself.

A few minutes later, the forest began to change. The trees became more widely spaced. The ground, once covered with thick roots, gave way to a vast clearing.

The smoke from the wildfire only reached the edges. Here, the air felt unnaturally still. The ordinary rats slowed down. Then... they stopped completely.

Thousands of them formed an enormous circle around the clearing. None advanced. None retreated. They simply watched. The silence that followed was far more terrifying than the horde’s screeches.

Hark raised his hand. The entire formation halted.

Then eight enormous silhouettes slowly emerged from the smoke. Every step made the ground tremble.

The first was a white rat, nearly three times larger than the others, covered in bony plates resembling natural armor.

Beside it walked an extremely lean creature with long legs and tightly packed muscles, clearly built for speed.

The third had two thick tails dripping a purple liquid that burned the grass wherever it fell.

The fourth walked supported by four enormous front legs, as though it had evolved extra limbs.

The fifth was completely black. Its eyes had vanished. In their place, dozens of long whiskers quivered constantly, sensing every movement around it.

The sixth had bony spikes growing along its back.

The seventh possessed two heads that breathed in perfect synchronization.

The last... was the largest of them all. It stood nearly three meters tall when it rose onto its hind legs. Its muscles looked as though they had been carved from stone. Its enormous claws scraped across the ground as it stared directly at Clavor.

None of them made a single sound.

Lukas felt his heart race. They were different. Very different. The pressure of mana emanating from those eight monsters surpassed that of any rat they had encountered before.

"They’re guards..." Hark murmured.

Clavor slowly nodded.

"The King has its own royal guard."

Then Lukas looked beyond them once more. His breathing caught.

Perched atop a gigantic twisted root, partially concealed by the shadows of the clearing... stood the true Rat King.

Its body was colossal. More than five meters long. Its hide seemed to be made of dozens of overlapping plates, as though countless rats had been fused into a single being.

Hundreds of eyes covered its head and part of its back. Red eyes. Black eyes. Yellow eyes. Each one watching a different direction. Long tails swayed slowly behind it, almost like living serpents.

Despite its monstrous appearance... it did absolutely nothing. It simply watched. Like a general observing the opening moments of a battle.

Then... every one of those eyes turned toward Lukas.

The boy felt his blood run cold. Even from that distance, he had the impression that the monster was smiling.

’It’s looking at me...’

Prata’s fur stood completely on end. Tilbo stepped forward, placing himself between Lukas and the creature. The support mage tightened her grip on her staff. Even Astra, circling above the clearing, let out a sharp cry.

The silence ended. The eight Royal Guards charged forward at the same time. The giant covered in bony plates rushed straight toward Hark.

The two-headed creature sprinted toward Clavor. The other six spread out, attempting to split the formation apart completely.

"Soldiers!" Hark roared. The twenty men raised their shields.

"Don’t let a single one of them get through!"

The true battle had finally begun.

And for the first time since leaving Hill Village, they all understood that the previous horde had been nothing more than a test.

The Rat King had finally decided to fight... and it had sent forth its champions to prove that no one would reach it without paying a price.