Lightning struck him, fire curled around him, shadows clawed at him but the pickaxe move swiftly deflecting each one.
The pickaxe collided with one of the flaming shadow constructs, shattering it in a burst of black flame and mana sparks.
Ben kept moving, step after step, carving a path through the elemental chaos.
The Magus reappeared behind him with a spinning kick, lightning surging from his leg.
Their weapons clashed, shovel against lightning cloaked gauntlet sending shockwaves through the cavern.
"Better," Ben said with a wild grin. "Now we're talking."
The Magus smirked. "You're right," he said, voice low and calm. "But playtime's over."
All this time the Magus has been learning. Every clash, every dodge, every counter had been part of the process.
But he wasn't learning Ben, he was learning how to wield the relic, how to wield its power to its limit.
His mana surged. Sparks crackle across his body, converging on the ring embedded in the relic.
With a flick of his finger,the ring shot forward like a comet, trailing arcs of lightning behind it.
Mid-flight, it shimmered as mana surged into it like a floodgate bursting open.
Then, with a thunderous boom, the mana coalesce transforming into a creature.
Its body had the regal grace of a qilin, sleek and powerful, covered in shimmering crystalline scales, each scale shifting between stormy blue, molten gold, and glowing ember-red.
Its legs were strong and slender, ending in hooves that left trails of sparks with every movement, as if lightning itself bowed beneath its steps.
From its back, enormous wings unfurled, feathers of pure flame and radiant energy, burning in sunfire gold.
Each flap scattered embers into the air, setting the cavern ceiling aglow with reflected firelight.
Its head bore the elongated snout and antlered crown of a dragon, lined with glowing rune.
Two golden eyes blazed with sentience, their pupils slitted.
A long, serpentine tail lashed behind it, its tip morphing into a phoenix plume.
Feathers trailing sparks, leaving streaks of glowing light in its wake. The air trembled around it.
Even the walls of the cavern seemed to breathe, reacting to the beast's overwhelming presence.
Ben took a step back, his eyes narrowed, 'they feel like those elemental ravager, as I expected the ring on his hand come from them.'
The beast surged forward, hooves cracking stone beneath it.
Ben blocked the first strike with his pickaxe, but the sheer force of the blow sent a tremor through his arms.
A curved antler crashed into him like a battering ram, flinging him backward through a wall of stone.
Before he could recover, the Magus flashed beside the creature, gauntlet crackling with lightning, fist aimed for Ben's chest.
Ben twisted, barely deflecting the strike with the flat of his shovel, but the beast was already there again,massive jaws wide, snapping like thunder.
He ducked, rolled, then slammed the pickaxe upward into its underjaw.
The crystalline scales vibrate absorbing the shock. Sparks flew, and the creature roared.
The Magus moved in tandem, like a shadow of the beast. He struck high while the creature swept low.
He dashed left as the beast come from the right.
Ben gritted his teeth, parrying blow after blow. Sparks burst from each clash, arcs of fire and lightning scattering across the cavern.
He tried to swing back twisting, spinning, feinting only to find his strikes blocked by a hoof, deflected by an antler, countered by a surge of sheer mass.
The qilin-dragon-phoenix hybrid slammed its tail like a whip, and Ben ducked just in time for the Magus to appear in front of him again, palm charged with lightning.
Ben's chest exploded with pain as he was hurled across the battlefield.
He coughed, vision blurring for a moment. Then he pushed himself up, smirking through blood-stained teeth.
"So that's how it is… since you cannot use mana you go physical now."
He gripped his pickaxe tighter.
"Then I'll stop holding back too."
With a loud crack, another layer of chitin erupted from beneath his skin.
It spread quickly, fusing into a full-body armor that shimmered like obsidian metal, sharp at the joints and bristling with ridged plates. Mana lines flickered beneath the surface, glowing faintly purple like veins of living energy.
This mana lines come from the magical armor he wear, making sure the effect is being applied to his chitin armor too.
From his back, four limbs burst forth. They curled like monstrous spider legs, segmented and deadly sharp.
Ben raised one of the limbs.
It extended to full length, then shot upward, fast as a fired bolt.
At its peak, it stopped, and the tip began to grow, splitting, multiplying.
A hundred needle-pointed spears bloomed from the single limb like fangs from a nightmare.
They rained from the sky hundreds of violet-black lances descending like divine wrath.
The Magus glanced up. He raised his arm. The beast react, it roared flame igniting along it wings as it appear in front of the Magus to block the attack.
The sharp spear clanged against its scales, some bouncing off, others sticking deep into its hide. It let out a cry of pain but held its ground.
But Ben was already moving again. Through the chaos he charged.
His body blurred like phantom, appearing behind the Magus.
The pickaxe tore through the lightning armor like it was paper. Sparks flew as the weapon smashed into the Magus's side, hurling him through the air like a ragdoll.
He crashed into the ground, carving a deep trench through stone and dirt.
The beast roared and charged, wings beating hard. Ben didn't flinch. One of the spider limbs shot out again, this time not up, but forward straight into the creature's path.
The sharp tip pierced its shoulder, pinning it to a boulder. The beast howled, struggling to break free.
Ben rushed forward again. The spider limbs moved with him, swaying like blades. He ducked under a swipe of claws, then slammed his pickaxe straight into the beast's chest.
The force rippled through the entire cave.
The Magus shot back to his feet, blood dripping from his mouth, eyes glowing with fury. "That hurt."
Ben looked at him, grinning. "So Both of you were connected. Good!"