I Built a Divine Zoo in Another World

Chapter 125: The King’s Guards (4)

Behind them, the monster with the purplish tails unleashed a jet of venom. The dark liquid streaked through the air like a living serpent, its acidic stench burning the warriors’ nostrils.

Hark spun his spear, the shaft creating a vortex of air that deflected part of the venom. Even so, a few drops struck his shoulder, burning through his armor with a hissing sound. The metal melted beneath the poison, and the flesh underneath began to throb with sharp pain.

Before the creature could retreat and prepare another attack, Clavor charged forward. His sword traced an upward arc, the golden blade slicing through the air with a sharp hum.

Both tails were severed, falling to the ground like worms still writhing. The rat screamed, a sound of pure agony that pierced the ears of everyone in the clearing. Deprived of its greatest weapon, the creature tried to flee, its legs scrambling desperately in search of an escape.

Hark did not allow it. His spear crossed dozens of meters in a single charge, its golden tip piercing through the air like a ray of light.

The strike was precise and lethal. The golden tip pierced straight through the creature’s heart, bursting out the other side in an explosion of blood and flesh. The fourth Guard died, its body dropping to its knees before collapsing onto its side, its eyes still fixed upon the sky.

Only the completely black rat remained. Eyeless. Uttering not a single sound. It slowly circled the two warriors, its movements as fluid as those of a ghost.

Its long whiskers quivered without pause, sensing every vibration in the air, every heartbeat, every drop of sweat running down the warriors’ foreheads. It was the most cautious of them all, the one that best understood the danger its companions had underestimated.

In an instant, it vanished. Lukas, watching from afar, nearly lost sight of the creature’s movement. The monster appeared behind Clavor like a shadow coming to life, its claws spread wide to tear out the warrior’s throat.

But Hark had already anticipated it. His spear swept horizontally, the shaft striking the Guard and knocking it just far enough off course for the attack to miss its target. The creature lost its balance for a fraction of a second, and Clavor seized the opportunity.

His sword descended like lightning, the blade gleaming with golden mana. The strike was so fast that the creature had no time to react. The blade split the rat cleanly in half, dividing its body into two perfect halves. Both pieces fell onto the blood-soaked grass, its whiskers still twitching for a few seconds before finally becoming still.

Five Royal Guards. Five corpses.

For a brief moment, even the horde seemed to hesitate. The silence that followed was absolute. Thousands of rats, which only moments earlier had been squealing and snarling with savage fury, now stood motionless like statues of stone.

The glowing eyes scattered throughout the darkness of the forest seemed to have gone dim, as though the horde itself was processing what it had just witnessed.

The silence lasted only an instant. The three remaining Guards roared simultaneously, a sound that echoed across the clearing like thunder.

It was not a roar of fury or defiance. It was... a call.

On the other side of the clearing, the situation remained critical. The speedster tore through the formation like a blur, its gray hide nearly invisible in motion.

The soldiers constantly shifted their shields, trying to anticipate the direction of the next attack, but the creature was far too fast to follow with the naked eye. The monster covered in spikes continuously launched bony projectiles, an unending rain of razor-sharp fragments that forced the warriors to keep their shields raised at all times.

Meanwhile, the gigantic Guard, nearly three meters tall, hammered against the shields with enough force to send fully grown men sliding several steps backward, their feet carving furrows into the ground as they struggled to hold their position.

Even so, the line did not break.

"Hold your ground!" the captain shouted, his voice hoarse from the effort of commanding amidst the noise of battle.

"Do not yield an inch!"

The spears thrust forward in perfect coordination. Whenever one of the Royal Rat Guards attempted to break through the formation, three or four soldiers intercepted it at once, their spearheads finding the creature’s flesh in a flurry of precise strikes. Behind them, the mage alternated between gusts of wind and spears of ice, his mana rapidly draining from the relentless effort.

The support mage kept her enhancement circle active despite the sweat streaming down her face, her hands trembling slightly from the strain of sustaining the spell that kept the soldiers on their feet.

Not a single soldier had fallen. Not a single rat was able to reach the center of the formation in large numbers.

A few, however, managed to slip through the small gaps created during the battle, a shield raised a second too late, a spear that hesitated before striking.

Those few encountered Tilbo. The enormous ant crushed one rat after another with its powerful mandibles, their shells snapping like twigs beneath the relentless pressure.

Shells cracked like dry branches, and the creatures’ bodies were tossed aside like broken dolls. Prata silently darted among the enemies, her agile form nearly invisible within the forest’s gloom. Her fangs pierced throats, while strands of silk bound legs and tails before Tilbo finished the job, dragging the bodies away from the formation.

Even Lukas was forced to act. A small rat leaped toward him, its eyes gleaming with hunger. He kicked it before it could reach his leg, his foot striking the creature’s skull with enough force to send it flying.

The rat was hurled against a tree, its body breaking with a sharp crack as it died on impact. Another managed to approach from behind, its claws scraping against Lukas’s clothing before he could react.

Lukas spun around, his fist descending like a hammer. The blow crushed the creature’s spine, and the rat collapsed to the ground, motionless.

Even so, his attention remained elsewhere. His eyes never left the far side of the clearing, where the most important battle was being fought.

Approximately one kilometer away, near where Clavor and Hark were fighting the Royal Guards... The Rat King remained motionless.

Five of his Guards had just died. Thousands of rats lay scattered across the battlefield. Even so... He showed no reaction whatsoever.

Hundreds of eyes observed everything at once, every pair reflecting the same unsettling calm.

Not one conveyed fear. Not one revealed anger. They seemed... to be waiting.

A chill ran down Lukas’s spine. It made no sense. A commander who remained so calm after losing half of his guard was either hiding a trump card... or had never believed those five would win in the first place.