Only after Garvit was sent flying did he truly comprehend the vast disparity between his physique and that of the Poison Blade Rat King.
The head-on collision a moment ago felt as though he was a toddler who had inadvertently crashed into a two-hundred-kilogram strongman.
This impact alone, Garvit estimated, had robbed him of at least a third of his life energy. Yet this was not the worst part.
The gravest issue was that Garvit now had no other means to oppose the Poison Blade Rat King.
His proudest cavalry charge, a moment ago, had ended in utter failure, effectively disarming him of his most potent weapon.
The poison mist potion he had prepared was only mildly effective against the weaker carrion rats, while the true enemy, the Poison Blade Rat King, remained utterly unaffected.
The root cause of all these failures lay in the flawed intelligence.
The information provided to Garvit had deliberately understated the true power of the Poison Blade Rat King. Claims of it being a mere second-order, level 30-40 creature, about the size of a rhino…
— (Those bastards gave me false info, just to watch me make a fool of myself.)
— (Or perhaps… they wanted me to march to my death.)
Garvit had suspected as much earlier but had been unwilling to accept it.
Now, however, he was forced to pay the price for his naivety.
“Gaye, hide! The rest of this battle is mine alone!”
Garvit ordered his steed to retreat, then, with shield in one hand and long-handled battle hammer in the other, he faced the oncoming swarm.
“Protection of the divine shield—!”
Garvit roared, using his shield to deflect the carrion rats lunging at him. He then swung his hammer, knocking back the enemies relentlessly advancing on him.
However, even though Garvit had cleared a significant number with his charge, the sheer quantity of carrion rats was overwhelming.
In no time, he found himself encircled by the vile creatures!
“Aaaaaah—!!!”
“Metallic Tornado!!!”
Garvit slammed his hammer into the ground and then began to spin at high speed, shield in one hand and hammer in the other!
He transformed into a miniature whirlwind of metallic fury, continuously knocking away the carrion rats daring to approach!
Each carrion rat colliding with his shield or hammer was instantly pulverized, dead before they hit the ground.
Gradually, the swarm dared not advance, and then, they witnessed the Poison Blade Rat King personally entering the fray.
The Poison Blade Rat King positioned itself, swung a claw, and clashed with the shield and hammer, producing a brilliant spray of sparks, followed by a second claw, a third…
Each strike was stronger than the last, until the seventh blow forced Garvit’s Metallic Tornado to a halt.
“Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp…”
The Poison Blade Rat King laughed victoriously because it saw that the ironclad human was now a spent force.
The Rat King did not deem it necessary to personally deliver the coup de grace to such a “weak” creature.
Instead, it commanded its kin to continue the attack, viewing this as a prime opportunity for them to enhance their power.
.
Garvit, panting heavily, gazed at the oncoming rat swarm, and at the Rat King sneering at him from not far away.
He had the will, but not the strength.
The prolonged use of the “Metallic Tornado” skill had drained most of his endurance and magic energy. He could feel his magic energy nearing depletion.
Yet, even if he didn’t fall into a state of magic energy exhaustion, he would still be devoured by these carrion rats. Instead of such a fate, he chose to fight till his last breath.
“Gaye, run! Run back to Emerald City!”
Garvit shouted with the last of his strength, then gripped his shield and battle hammer tighter, preparing to burn the last of his life in this fight.
— (I’m sorry, Father.)
“Aaaaaah—!! Metallic Tornado!!!”
This time, the whirlwind of the metallic maelstrom lasted less than ten seconds.
A wave of intense dizziness swept over Garvit’s brain. In the last moment before he collapsed, he vaguely saw the boy, who should have left long ago, walking towards him with a black sword in hand.
·
With a thud, Garvit, clad in armor, fell to the ground.
Tyler approached slowly, his heart filled with gratitude for the spectacular battle Garvit had put on.
Now that Garvit had passed out, Tyler could make his move without any hesitation.
“Rats, anyone who doesn’t want to die, leave now! This is no longer your territory!” (evilkind language)
Tyler loudly admonished the creatures trying to bite through the armor to eat the flesh underneath.
However, to the creatures, his “words of advice” sounded more like a provocation!
As such, the carrion rats immediately changed their target and charged towards Tyler!
In their eyes, this young human wrapped in a tattered cloak, seemed much more appetizing than the fallen ironclad human.
The Poison Blade Rat King, at this moment, recognized the “scent” on Tyler.
It was this fellow who had lured the Serpent King to its nest that night!
“Chirp, chirp… chirp, chirp, chirp!” (Kill him!) (rat language)
The rats swarmed him, but these carrion rats and giant carrion rats, with only 100/200/500 life energy, no longer posed a threat in Tyler’s eyes.
He was no longer the Tyler from that night.
(Blue Blaze Steed!)
With a sweep of his black sword, a blue flame flashed.
Where the flame horse neighed, all rats turned to charred remains.
The only thing Tyler needed to be careful about was the angle of his swings, to avoid accidentally hurting the unconscious Garvit.
. 𝒪𝗏𝒍xt.𝐜𝒐𝓶
With just one strike, Tyler eradicated the remaining rats that the Poison Blade Rat King had brought from the forest.
As the level up notification popped up in his field of vision, Tyler felt a pang of regret that the Prison Star world did not automatically restore his status after leveling up.
The incinerated rat demons provided Tyler with 26,000 experience points, advancing his “Shadow Assassin” profession from level 40 to 41.
Simultaneously, Tyler noted that only the second-tier Giant Carrion Rats provided full experience, while the first-tier Carrion Rats only provided half the prior experience.
This discrepancy had not occurred in his previous battle with the 15 mercenaries from the Mayor’s forces.
However, now was not the time to contemplate these matters.
Timing the red light warning perfectly, Tyler performed a side roll to evade the pounce of the Poison Blade Rat King.
Despite taking a hit from the “Blue Blaze Steed” (6331-1523 / 7561), the creature still exhibited robust fighting spirit, even more furious than before.
If Tyler were to continue inflicting this level of damage, he would need to use “Blue Blaze Steed” four more times to kill the Poison Blade Rat King.
However, his remaining magic energy wouldn’t permit it.
━━━━━━━━━
Tyler
Life Energy: 2321/2340
Endurance: 1590/1594
Magic Energy: 1666/4670
━━━━━━━━━
Because he had practiced “Shadow Behind” twelve times in the morning, Tyler couldn’t face the Poison Blade Rat King at full capacity.
Nevertheless, Tyler still believed the situation was manageable.
Having endured the Purple Trials, having defeated Albert, even if the Poison Blade Rat King was one tier and 29 levels higher than him, he didn’t consider it to be an insurmountable adversary.
(Let’s put you to the test…)
Tyler looked at the shadow behind the Poison Blade Rat King, then threw the “Shadow Sword Blaze Steed” towards it.
(Shadow Behind!)