Chapter 89: A Clever Capture of the Shadow Rat King 2

“Hah! That’s hilarious. You really think you can capture the Rat King?” Darkya laughed outright after hearing Kent’s words. “Do you even know what’s on the other side? There are at least two hundred Level Two Shadow Rats, more than a hundred at Level Three, nearly a hundred at Level Four, dozens at Level Five, and even two Level Six ones. Do you have any idea what that means? And do you remember that you’re only Level Two?”

Darkya found Kent’s idea almost absurd.

Even she would not dare provoke a swarm of Shadow Rats of this size, let alone expect a mere Level Two mage to capture their king.

Kent was not angered by her mockery.

He merely replied calmly, “If you can imagine it, then there’s always a way to make it happen.”

Darkya gave him a scornful look.

“I think imagining it is about as far as you’ll get.”

Kent smiled faintly and looked directly at her.

“Then do you dare make a bet with me?” he asked. “Bet on whether I can capture the Rat King.”

Darkya considered it for a moment before answering, “Fine. If you lose, you give me back my freedom. And we seal the wager with a blood oath.”

“Agreed,” Kent said without hesitation. “But if I win, you have to promise me one thing.”

A trace of excitement stirred in his heart as soon as Darkya accepted.

“Fine. One thing is one thing.”

Darkya gritted her teeth and agreed.

The two of them then swore a blood oath.

A blood oath was an extremely severe form of magical vow.

Once the oath was made, anyone who broke it would lose every drop of blood in their body.

In this world, vows were not meaningless words spoken on a whim.

They possessed real power, and so did the punishment for breaking them.

Darkya watched as Kent quietly moved downstream along the river.

A faint smile appeared on her face.

As far as she was concerned, she had nothing to lose from this wager.

She was already Kent’s servant.

Forget one request—if Kent gave her several orders, she would still be unable to refuse because of the magical contract binding them.

And if anything happened to Kent during this reckless attempt, the magical contract between them would automatically be broken.

From Darkya’s perspective, the wager placed her at no disadvantage at all.

She lifted her crossbow and used the night-vision sight mounted on it to carefully observe the Shadow Rat swarm on the opposite side.

The Shadow Rats had chosen their territory well.

One side of the area was backed by a steep rock wall, while another bordered the river.

An earthen mound stood close to the riverbank, and several massive boulders blocked the remaining two sides.

Only a few narrow gaps existed between the rocks.

Together, the terrain formed a slightly sunken area resembling a shallow basin.

If Darkya had not found a relatively high vantage point, it would have been difficult to discover where the Shadow Rats were gathered.

Her attention soon fell upon two Shadow Rats marked with silver-white stripes.

The two creatures remained within a small area and rarely moved far from it.

There was little doubt about what that meant.

That had to be the place where the Rat King lived.

Among magical beasts that lived in groups, status was not always determined by level or combat strength.

Bloodline often mattered more.

Bees were a perfect example.

Even if a queen bee possessed almost no fighting ability, the rest of the hive would still obey and protect her.

Ant colonies followed the same principle.

Within such groups, hierarchy was not based entirely on who was strongest.

What mattered more was which member could best ensure the continuation of the entire colony.

Darkya frowned as she continued studying the swarm.

She carefully considered the situation from every possible angle.

If she were the one trying to capture the Rat King, she could think of no way to succeed.

Shadow Rats occupied nearly every part of the surrounding area within a hundred meters.

There was simply no way to approach the Rat King without being discovered.

At least, Darkya could not see one.

Just when Darkya was beginning to think Kent had failed, a dark figure suddenly burst out of the river.

It was shaped like a human.

The instant it leapt from the water, every Shadow Rat nearby turned its head.

A heartbeat later, the entire swarm rushed toward it.

Darkya immediately realized who it was.

Kent.

She raised the crossbow in her hands and fired a rapid three-bolt volley.

Even Darkya herself could not explain what she was feeling at that moment.

She watched hundreds of Shadow Rats surge toward Kent from every direction.

For a moment, she was already preparing to retreat.

Then the nearest Shadow Rats closed to within little more than ten meters.

Darkya instinctively shut her eyes.

At that distance, Kent had perhaps one second left.

After that, he would be torn apart.

But then—

a brilliant light suddenly erupted from Kent’s hands.

Darkya had not been prepared for it.

The flash was so intense that even she was temporarily blinded.

For what felt like nearly two minutes, she could see nothing.

She could only hear the frantic squealing of the Shadow Rats and feel violent waves of magical energy surging through the area.

By the time her vision finally returned, Kent was already running toward her.

On the opposite bank, the Shadow Rats had fallen into complete chaos.

Blinded by the sudden burst of light, they were attacking one another wildly.

But several dozen rats had followed Kent into the river.

And these were no ordinary members of the swarm.

Most were high-ranked Shadow Rats.

Darkya immediately put away the crossbow.

She drew her magic bow instead and pulled out three enchanted arrows.

Her aim shifted toward the creatures chasing Kent from behind.

“Put that down!”

Kent shouted the moment he saw what she was doing.

“What are you doing?”

He rushed over and grabbed the bow before she could fire.

Darkya stared at him in disbelief.

The pursuing Shadow Rats were already closing in.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“My dear lady, if you kill those Shadow Rats, you’re going to regret it.”

Kent quickly shoved something from his arms into hers.

“Here.”

“Make this one your magical beast first.”

Before Darkya could react, Kent turned around.

A stream of fireballs shot from his hands toward the Shadow Rats climbing onto the bank.

Immediately afterward, he released another Illumination spell.

Darkya looked down at the creature in her arms.

Her expression froze.

“This...”

“This is the Rat King?”

The creature weighed only a little over ten jin.

It was clearly still young.

Unlike the other Shadow Rats, its fur was not striped.

Its entire body was covered in rich purple fur.

It had a tiny pink nose and a pair of frightened little eyes.

At the moment, the creature was trembling uncontrollably.

The magical fluctuations coming from its body were only at the second rank.

Darkya needed only one glance to understand what she was holding.

Only a Shadow Rat King possessed completely purple fur.

For a moment, she simply stood there in stunned silence.

“Stupid woman!”

Kent shouted.

“Make the contract already!”

He maintained the Illumination spell while glaring at the Shadow Rats on the other side.

The creatures were staring back at him with open hostility.

In truth, if not for the overwhelming aura of an eighth-rank expert radiating from Darkya, Kent would probably already have been torn apart.

Shadow Rats feared light.

But fear was one thing.

Protecting their king was another.

“Oh.”

Darkya finally recovered from her shock.

“Right away.”

She lowered her head toward the trembling creature in her arms.

“Little one, would you be willing to become my companion?”

The young Rat King, however, was far too terrified by Darkya’s powerful aura to respond.

It simply kept shaking.

Kent nearly spat blood.

“You’re an eighth-rank Magic Archer.”

“You’re trying to contract a second-rank cub.”

“And you’re actually asking for permission?”

If not for the Rat King in Darkya’s hands, those dozens of Shadow Rats would probably already have attacked both of them without hesitation.

“What do you know about—”

Darkya had barely begun to argue when Kent suddenly snatched the Rat King out of her arms.

“What are you doing?”

She instinctively reached forward.

But then she stopped.

After all, Kent had been the one who captured it.

She could only glare at him and demand an explanation.

Kent held the trembling Rat King in one hand.

A Wind Blade appeared above his other palm.

The sharp edge hovered directly in front of the creature’s pink nose.

“You.”

“Sign a magical contract with her right now and become her magical beast.”

“Otherwise, I’ll kill you immediately.”

The Rat King trembled even harder.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, it formed a contract with Darkya.

A golden symbol appeared simultaneously on Darkya’s forehead and the Rat King’s.

For high-bloodline magical beasts, forming a voluntary contract with a person was possible.

It was an instinct inherited through their bloodline.

Once the contract was complete, Darkya immediately pulled the frightened Rat King back into her arms and began comforting it.

The little creature had clearly been terrified by Kent.

It continued trembling against her chest.

At Darkya’s command, the other Shadow Rats finally stopped advancing.

They remained nearby instead.

However, every single one of them stared at Kent with unmistakable hatred.

Only then did Kent finally begin to feel the exhaustion catching up with him.

His entire body was tired.

His clothes were soaked through from the river.

He was just about to tell Darkya that they should head back when she suddenly turned toward him.

Her eyes widened.

“Wind magic?”

Kent froze.

Darkya stared at him even harder.

“No.”

“You used light magic just now too.”

Kent stood there speechless.