Chapter 109: Duel

Zach noticed the barrier dome around him and the king. Of course, he did, even if it appeared without sound and was invisible. He made barriers for a living.

The method employed to erect the barrier separating him and the rat king from the others was different. It seemed like it was part of an automatic magic engraved on the floor, compared to Zach's, which was like breathing.

But the pressure in the air shifted when the barrier popped up, and the sounds from outside, faint as they were, became muted.

Zach didn't let it get to him. If anything, the realization that he was truly alone in his fight against the rat king made it easier to focus.

However, he might have focused on the wrong thing.

Zach was busy thinking about how his family used their swords while inching toward the rat king when the rat king lunged forward, thrusting his spear at Zach's shoulder.

The rat king's spear pressed into the soft barrier in front of Zach and pushed almost all the way to Zach's shoulder before being sent to the side, thanks to the barrier's angle.

Zach's eyes shot wide open, and he blinked once and then twice.

'Whoops.'

He realized that he shouldn't be thinking about anything but the rat king. He tightened his grip on the sword and looked at the rat king's tilted head.

The rat king wasn't filled with murderous bloodthirst as all the other monsters had been so far. There was something deeper and more complex in his eyes.

But Zach didn't think about it any deeper than that. The rat king had been momentarily surprised by Zach's unexpected defense. That could have been an opening if Zach knew what he was doing. But he didn't, and he had let it slip past.

He wouldn't get another as easily.

However, the rat king hadn't broken through his barrier, at least. That was promising.

Zach looked at the rat king's spear.

When he stepped forward in a lunge and extended his spear as far as he could by gripping it with one hand at the end, the rat king's reach was at least five times as long as Zach's.

Zach was proud that he realized it so soon. He willingly didn't acknowledge how it would still have been too late without his barrier that just saved his life.

The first thing he needed to do to defeat the rat king would be to close the distance and get within range to use his sword.

He had seen Yanael move like she was dancing with her enemies on the few occasions they were powerful enough not to get cut down at once. It also seemed like she moved to dodge blood splatter. S~eaʀᴄh the NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Zach didn't think he could do that. But he could rise to the balls of his feet.

He added an extra layer to his barrier before approaching the rat king again. When the king thrust his spear toward Zach's shoulder again, all Zach had to do was push to the side with his toes and lean to dodge the shiny spear tip.

Zach managed to dodge with enough margin that the spear didn't even touch his barrier. With that margin, he also had enough room to move forward a step and a half before the rat king could pull back his spear and thrust again.

The next dodge wasn't as wide, and the spear bounced off Zach's barrier.

The rat king took a step back to maintain his distance from Zach while pulling back his spear again. He attacked again in the exact same way as the last three times.

Naturally, Zach dodged it again.

However, after missing, the rat king didn't pull back his spear again. He swung it to the side at Zach's shoulder.

Zach was fortunate enough that he caught it out of the corner of his eye and managed to lean back and let the spear pass by in front of him.

Zach missed, however, the fact that he still had his sword in front of him. He had been diligent and kept the sword raised all this time.

That came back to bite him in the ass when the rat king's spear slammed into the unprotected blade with enough force to almost send it flying.

Zach barely managed to hold onto the sword only because he was desperately aware that he would lose as soon as he lost it. But it came at the cost of the feeling of his hands. They were numb and throbbed like he had punched a beehive.

Before Zach could even try putting up his guard again, the rat king thrust his spear at the center of Zach's chest, which now only had barriers and no sword guarding it.

The rat king took a step forward and extended his arm fully, pushing the tip of his spear into the flexible, stretchy barrier.

Zach looked at the spear tip getting closer and closer to his chest at a decreasing speed as the resistance from the barrier increased the further the king pushed.

The barrier squeaked like leather stretched taut, but the rat king showed no signs of letting it bounce back.

'Shit.'

Zach had just enough time to realize that the rat king wasn't giving up until the barrier broke to put up a new barrier before the barrier broke. He did not, however, have any time to make any changes to the barrier.

The solid, slightly golden barrier was right in front of his chest like another layer of armor. That also meant it wasn't fixed in the air. Fortunately.

The rat king's spear struck the second barrier and sent it and Zach back. The barrier, however, didn't fly far before cracking and dissolving.

Zach felt both the inside and outside of his chest break out in a rash of pain. But he couldn't get hung up on something so trivial.

He gathered himself and crashed on the floor. He used the force from the knockback to roll over backward and get up on his feet, careful not to cut himself with the sword somehow still in his hand.

He hurriedly looked at the rat king, who was gracious enough not to hit an opponent on the ground.

Zach quickly glanced at his chest. His shirt was slightly torn like something had pierced it, and a thin trickle of blood escaped the skin on his chest.

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Cold sweat cooled Zach's back as he realized that he had once again gotten pretty close to dying.

But that wasn't his only realization.

He turned his gaze to the rat king again, ready for round two.