I Built a Divine Zoo in Another World

It was not fire. It was not wind. It was not lightning. It was pure corrupted mana condensed into a form that defied any elemental classification. The beam was so dense that it appeared solid, like a pillar of liquid obsidian tearing through the air.

The sunlight was completely blocked by the passage of the attack, and the forest was plunged into momentary darkness. The sound of the beam cutting through the air was a continuous roar that made everyone’s teeth tremble.

The attack tore through the forest like a pillar of destruction. Trees vanished instantly, their trunks simply ceasing to exist wherever the beam passed. There was no explosion, no fragments, only absolute emptiness where wood and leaves had once stood.

Stones turned to dust. The boulders scattered throughout the clearing were reduced to particles so fine that the wind carried them away before they could even reach the ground.

The very earth was vaporized. A deep trench was carved into the ground, as though a giant hand had torn away a slice of the forest. The bottom of the ravine glowed with lingering heat, and small black flames still flickered along its edges.

The soldiers tried to react. Their bodies moved instinctively, some throwing themselves aside, others raising their shields in a desperate defense.

Most of them succeeded. The blessing still pulsing through their bodies granted them enhanced reflexes, allowing them to escape the beam’s path by mere inches.

But three of them...

We’re too slow.

The beam simply passed through their bodies. There was no impact, no resistance. The corrupted energy pierced them as though they were made of mist.

There was no blood. There were no screams. They simply ceased to exist.

Their bodies disappeared completely, disintegrated on such a fundamental level that not even ashes remained. For a brief instant, their silhouettes lingered in the air like shadows of light before fading away.

Only tiny luminous particles remained, carried away by the wind, little specks of light that shimmered for a brief moment before vanishing forever.

The beam continued surging forward for hundreds of meters before finally disappearing into the horizon. In its wake, a perfectly straight line of devastation stretched across the forest, a scar upon the landscape that would take years to heal.

An enormous trench now cut through the forest.

The silence lasted only for a moment. The surviving soldiers stared at the place where their comrades had stood, their faces pale, their eyes wide. The reality of what they had witnessed was only beginning to sink in.

Hark clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw cracked. The pain of losing those soldiers was sharp, but there was no time to grieve. No room for hesitation.

”Keep advancing!”

His voice was a roar, filled with an authority that allowed no argument. The soldiers, still stunned, felt their bodies obey the command before their minds could even process the order.

Clavor pointed his sword toward the monster, its blade still glowing with the mana he had gathered.

”Don’t give it another chance!”

The order was clear. The Rat King had demonstrated its power, but it had also revealed a weakness, the attack required time to prepare. If they closed the distance quickly enough, they might be able to prevent it from firing again.

The shock of their comrades’ deaths was still written across the soldiers’ faces. The pain was visible in their eyes, in their tightly pressed lips, in the fists they clenched so hard that their knuckles had turned white.

But no one retreated.

On the contrary. Every one of them gripped their weapons even tighter. The loss of their comrades did not paralyze them, it filled them with a cold fury, a determination that transformed fear into fuel.

The formation broke into a run once more. Their steps were faster now, more resolute. The soldiers had learned from their comrades’ mistake. They would keep their distance. They would attack from afar. They would not give the King the opportunity to wipe them out with a single strike.

Now they were far more cautious.

Far more aware of the enemy they were facing.

Meanwhile...

The wind and ice mage finally began his incantation.

Blue mana rose around his body, a cold, brilliant light that contrasted sharply with the King’s corrupted darkness. The energy danced around him like icy flames, creating patterns of light that moved in perfect rhythm with his breathing.

The wind began to swirl around him. First came a gentle breeze, then a stronger whirlwind, and finally a raging vortex that lifted dust and leaves from the ground. The air grew colder with every passing second.

Fragments of ice slowly began to form above his head. Tiny crystals glowing with a bluish light, growing larger with each passing moment, merging together into increasingly massive forms.

It was far greater than any spell Lukas had ever seen. The sphere of ice and wind taking shape above the mage measured several meters in diameter, its surface covered in runes shining with an almost blinding brilliance.

Runes appeared one after another in the air. Ancient symbols, inscriptions of power that few among the living could still read. Each rune added more strength to the spell, greater complexity, and greater destructive potential.

Magic circles overlapped one another, rotating in different directions, creating a hypnotic pattern of light and shadow. The mana pouring from the mage was so intense that the air around him began to freeze, forming tiny snowflakes that drifted gently to the ground.

The very temperature of the forest began to fall. The nearest soldiers felt the cold piercing through their armor, but no one complained. They knew this spell was their best chance of dealing significant damage to the King.

Meanwhile...

Clavor and Hark drew closer and closer.

One hundred meters. The King’s face was now clearly visible in every detail, every eye, every plate, and every deformity. Eighty meters. The pressure of the corrupted mana had become almost unbearable, yet neither warrior slowed down. Sixty meters. They could see the eyes inside the monster’s mouth moving once again, preparing another attack.

The King moved once more.