The pickaxe struck—only for the Venom Ravager to twist at the last second. The blade scraped against its armored carapace, sending sparks flying, but barely leaving a mark.
Ben's eyes flickered with sharp focus. 'Fast.' The Ravager moved—a blur of green and black. Before he could react, something lashed out.
A jet of dark, glistening liquid shot toward him. Ben barely managed to twist his body mid-motion
The venom splattered against the ground behind him, sizzling on impact. 'Acid.' His instincts screamed. If that had landed, it wouldn't have just burned—it would've eaten through his flesh entirely. Ben could regenerate but this kind of damage is something he prefer to dodge. The Venom Ravager didn't stop. It rushed him, claws slicing through the air. Ben ducked—too late.
A sharp, searing pain tore across his side. His body whipped backward, skidding across the battlefield. Ben exhaled, slowly rolling his shoulders. His hand brushed against his wound—hissing at the slight burn. Even without a direct hit, the venom clung to its claws.
Its The Ravager stalked forward, slow, deliberate. Then It vanished. Ben's eyes widened. 'Too fast! Even faster than those phantom.'
Another venom shot, this time from above. Ben threw himself sideways barely avoiding the deadly spray as it hissed against the air. The second he landed, the Ravager was already there.
A claw sank into his shoulder— "GRHHH—!" SLAM!
Ben's body was driven into the ground. Dust and stone exploded from the impact. His vision blurred—his entire left arm numbed instantly. His Adaptive Muscles pulsed, healing working overtime to fight the toxin creeping into his veins. But the Venom Ravager wasn't done. Its spined tail whipped around a venom-coated strike aiming directly for his chest.
Ben moved. His good arm shot up—catching the tail mid-swing. The Ravager lurched, surprised. Ben coughed, blood trickling from his lip, but his grin never faded. "Not bad," he rasped. His grip tightened. "But you're gonna have to do better than that."
With a surge of strength, he yanked—hurling the Ravager through the air like a ragdoll. But even mid-flight, the creature twisted unnaturally, spines along its back flaring—
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Venom-coated projectiles ripped through the air toward him. Ben ducked, weaving to avoid the incoming barrage, but just as he thought he was clear—
The spines clashed midair, twisting against each other—and suddenly, one curved unnaturally, arcing back toward him. Ben's eyes widened, 'What the hell!?' He twisted—but too late.
A spine slammed into his back. The impact wasn't the problem—the venom was. A sickening numbness crawled through his veins instantly, spreading like wildfire. His movements felt slower, his muscles sluggish. 'Smart bastard…' The Ravager landed, its glowing green eyes locked onto him, watching. Calculating.
Ben moved. He sidestepped another venom spray, his mind working fast. He could already feel the toxin creeping through his system. If this kept up his body would be too slow to react.
There was only one way to fix this. With a single, decisive thought, Ben push the spind out of his body, than forced all the poison to gather toward one place—his left arm. The veins blackened instantly, his fingers twitching uncontrollably from the overload. Without hesitation, a blade burst from his back, slicing through his own limb.
The severed arm dropped, hitting the ground with a sickening sizzle. The moment it touched the stone, it turned black, flesh corroding away as the venom ate through it. But he wasn't done, Flesh twisted, bones reshaped, and a new arm grew in seconds—this time, not alone. Three additional blade-like appendages erupted from his back. Ben exhaled sharply, rolling his new fingers. "No more running," he muttered, lifting his gaze.
Then he moved. Faster than before. The Venom Ravager reacted instantly, trying to leap back—but Ben was already there. He slammed forward, closing the gap in a blur, his new bladed limbs lashing out in a relentless storm of strikes.
The Ravager blocked, twisting its body with inhuman agility, dodging and deflecting the strikes with its reinforced carapace. Ben's mind worked fast, analyzing. Brute strength wasn't enough. The armor—it was tougher than the Brutes'. Not as bulky, but stronger, reinforced in layered segments that flexed under pressure. It was faster than a Phantom Ravager, able to react and reposition instantly without warning. It couldn't distort his senses like the Phantom, but it didn't need to. Between its agility, long-range venom attacks, and near-impenetrable armor—this thing was on another level.
But Ben isn't deterred instead he grinned, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. "Tough bastard, aren't you?"
The Venom Ravager didn't react. It moved. More spines shot out, but this time Ben didn't dodge. His blade-arms lashed through the air, cutting the projectiles mid-flight. Sparks flared as venom splattered across the battlefield. Ben closed in again, forcing it into direct combat not giving it a second to reposition, to counter.
Ben's plan was simple overwhelm the Venom Ravager. Force it into a corner, keep it from using its tricks, and find its weakness. But reality wasn't so kind. He was still outnumbered. Before he could break through the Venom Ravager's defenses, the ground rumbled. Heavy steps thundered behind him. Two Brutes.
Ben's instincts screamed. He twisted—
A massive fist slammed into him, sending him hurtling across the battlefield. He skidded along the stone, rolling with the impact just in time to avoid the second Brute's crushing stomp. Then—he vanished. Ben blinked. His senses screamed, his gaze snapping left just in time to catch a flicker of movement The Phantom Ravager.
'Damn it—!' It appeared mid-air, it jaw opened to his neck. Ben barely raised his blade-arms in time.
Searing pain shot through his side as the Phantom ripped into him, its claws slicing past his defense. The hit wasn't deep, but it dodge . Ben gritted his teeth This was bad. He was now surrounded.
The Venom Ravager had repositioned, waiting for an opening. The Phantom circled, flickering between visibility, searching for another blind spot. The Brutes stood like living walls, waiting to crush him the moment he made a mistake.