WorldCrafter - Building My Underground Kingdom-Chapter 159 - Daemonic Appendage

159: Daemonic Appendage

159: Daemonic Appendage

Ben stepped forward.

He raised the pickaxe.

“One shot,” he murmured.

“That’s all it’ll take.” ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

He ignited the energy that the pickaxe absorbed.

The weapon shimmered with Mana.

The dome reacted, drawing power from the castle to enhance the field just long enough.

Ben exhaled And swung.

SWOSH!!!

The pickaxe pierced the outer dome, passed through the overlapping magical barriers, and struck the Magus square in the chest.

The world went silent for a breath.

BOOM!!

The entire containment dome imploded with a deafening thunderclap, the collapsing force drawing everything inside inward.

Light warped.

Air split.

The Magus’s body was launched like a comet crashing into his castle.

Ben didn’t wait.

The instant the Magus’s body slammed into the castle wall with a crash that sent cracks webbing through the stone, Ben leapt.

The wind howled past him as he dropped like a meteor, pickaxe gripped tight in both hands, eyes locked onto his falling target.

BAM!

He landed just as the Magus staggered to his feet.

The ground quaked beneath Ben’s boots.

The moment their eyes met, fists flew.

CRACK!

Ben’s fist smashed into the Magus’s jaw, twisting his head to the side.

Lightning surged in retaliation.

BOOM!

But Ben ducked beneath it, shoulder, slamming the Magus back into the wall.

The Magus coughed blood, but he roared, snapping both hands forward.

CRACKLE!!

A blast of chained lightning speared out, arcing point blank into Ben’s chest.

Ben gritted his teeth, pickaxe swinging in a tight arc.

It cut through the lightning, severing the spell with a scream of displaced mana, and the recoil launched them apart.

The Magus blinked through the air, appearing behind Ben.

BAM!

His foot caught Ben in the ribs, sending him tumbling through the air, but Ben twisted mid-flight, slammed his pickaxe into the wall to slow his momentum, then launched off it.

He collided with the Magus mid-air.

Fists.

Knees.

Elbows.

Their fight turned into close melee.

They crashed through the outer balcony of the fortress, spun down a staircase, and tumbled through a corridor in a flurry of strikes.

The Magus raised a hand another spell.

But it’s too slow.

BAM!

Ben’s pickaxe crashed into his forearm, breaking his focus and sending blood spraying across the wall.

The Magus hissed and grabbed a nearby pipe, yanking it free and swinging it like a staff.

Ben blocked it with the haft of his weapon.

CLANG!

Sparks flying as they clashed in the narrow corridor.

“I will end you!” Ben growled.

CRACK!

He headbutted the Magus, then grabbed his collar, threw him over his shoulder, and slammed him through the next door.

They burst into the central hall, massive, filled with rune, lined pillars and blazing mana conduits.

Ben landed beside him as the Magus staggered, dazed.

He tapped a nearby glyph with his foot.

The floor lit up.

The castle responded.

The runes in the walls blazed.

Mana surged.

Chains of light erupted from the floor, wrapping around the Magus again, but he resisted, lightning crackling off his body, trying to break free.

Ben stood over him, panting, chest heaving, blood dripping down his side.

But he grinned.

“I built this place as a tunnel to my other base.” He raised the pickaxe once more.

“Let me show you what that means.”

The runes blazed brighter hot white veins pulsing through the stone.

Beneath the Magus, the ground began to tremble.

CRACK!

A deep split opened under him, glowing like the mouth of the sun.

From the darkness below, white lava erupted .

beautiful, and deadly.

It hissed as it met the air, steam howling up in gouts.

The temperature surged.

The Magus froze.

Not from paralysis, but instinct.

Fear crawled across his spine.

That was raw, pure mana.

A violent concentration of wild, unstable energy, so dense it couldn’t be controlled.

Not by him.

Not even by a Magus.

If he fell in…

His body tensed.

Muscles rippling.

The heat blistered his skin in an instant.

The white glow reflected in his wide, furious eyes.

He twisted.

With a roar of agony, the Magus severed his own arm at the shoulder, slicing it clean through with a blade of condensed aether.

The limb, still wrapped in Ben’s glowing chains, was swallowed by the white lava and vanished instantly, like paper in fire.

A scream ripped from his throat, fury and pain entwined.

CRACKLE… BOOM!

A surge of aether burst from the stump.

Purple lightning exploded from the wound, searing into the air.

It spiraled and thickened weaving into a new limb.

In the blink of an eye, a lightning-forged arm formed.

Every twitch of its fingers sent arcs crackling across the chamber.

Ben’s eyes narrowed.

“So desperate.”

The Magus looked up, chest heaving, sweat pouring, eyes bloodshot.

“I will not fall here…” His voice was a rasp, but there was no weakness.

“You won’t kill me, traveler.

I still have many thing I need to do.”

Then he surged up, faster than before.

His new lightning arm swung forward, punching straight through the chain’s bind and crashing toward Ben’s chest like a thunder god’s hammer.

Ben blocked.

BOOM!

The force of the blow hurled Ben backward, boots grinding deep into the stone as he skidded across the chamber.

Sparks crackled off his armor, the air around him charged and trembling.

But he didn’t fall.

He growled, muscles adapating, pickaxe swinging in a tight arc to absorb the blow.

A ripple of force traveled down his arms but he held.

“You’re faster now,” Ben muttered, grinning through the blood at his lip.

“Guess it cost you an arm to get serious.”

CRACK!

The Magus was already there, teleporting in a burst of violet flash.

His new lightning forged limb shimmered.

He thrust it forward like a spear.

Ben met it with a step forward.

BAM!

Pickaxe met thunder again.

The impact cracked the floor, cratering the stone beneath them.

Their weapons clashed again and again, blows that could shatter walls, each blocked or redirected with inches to spare.

SWOOSH!

The Magus ducked low, hand sweeping to unleash a chain of elemental blades, fire, lightning, shadow, and wind, each one aimed to slice through flesh.

Ben spun mid-air, his pickaxe carving through the first blade, mana unraveling on impact.

He dodged the second.

Deflected the third.

The fourth, he caught it between his gauntlet and shaft of the weapon, then shattered it with a elbow.

Before he could land…

BZZZT!

The Magus snapped his fingers.

Dozens of lightning spears erupted from the floor around Ben.

Ben stomped down.

BOOM!

White flame burst from under his boots, propelling him upward as the spears detonated, the blast singeing his side as he twisted through the smoke.

He flipped in the air, eyes locking on the Magus below and came down like an asteroid, pickaxe glowing with condensed mana, devouring every ounce of energy around it.

“Try blocking this!” Ben roared.

BOOM!

The pickaxe struck the Magus’s shoulder, lightning screamed in protest, his body was driven into the floor, stone shattering like glass beneath him.

But he wasn’t down.

The Magus caught himself with his one good hand, growled, and from his back, six wings of lightning exploded outward, propelling him back into the air.

His voice was thunder.

“I will not beaten by a traveller!”

Ben twirled the pickaxe once, catching it in reverse grip.

“Bullshit,” he said, eyes blazing.

The moment Ben landed, the ground trembled beneath his boots.

He moved.

The Magus shot toward him again, wings of lightning howling behind like storm-banners.

Bolts rained in his wake, arcing across the floor, detonating walls and shattering pillars.

But Ben ignored them.

He sidestepped one.

BOOM!

leapt over another, spun under a third, Then surged upward.

CRACK!

Their weapons met mid-air.

Lightning writhed across Ben’s chestplate, but he didn’t flinch.

Instead, he grabbed the Magus’s wrist, wrenched it sideways twisted And drove the pickaxe straight into his chest.

BAM!!!!

Time stopped.

The Magus’s eyes went wide.

“ARRRRRRAAAAAAAGHHHHH!!!” A monstrous screech tore from his throat.

But it wasn’t just him.

From his back, the wings of lightning folded inward, collapsing.

Flesh bubbled.

Mana twisted.

Then, burst open.

A demonic appendage erupted, Red tendrils of aether coiling like serpents, merging into a sharp jaw.

It snapped open with rows of gleaming fangs, far too large for the Magus’s body.

The cavern darkened.

The Magus screamed, as he start losing control.

The monstrous mouth transformed further into a demonic face, it’s eyes glow in red, two horn come out form it.

It than shoot forward, aiming to bite down on Ben.

But Ben grip tightened on the pickaxe.

His eyes narrowed, teeth clenched.

“I don’t get eaten by monsters.” He snarled.

Biomass start moving from his body, as he coldly mumble, “consume!”

A appendage shot out from his back, turning into a gaping maw, clashing with the magus.

CRACK!

CRUNCH!

The air itself trembled as teeth met teeth, two jaws locked in a struggle.

The Magus’s daemonic appendage roared, its fangs gnashing with wild fury.

Muscles bulged along Ben’s back as his appendage pushed forward, inch by inch, its circular rows of sharp teeth grinding down on the daemon’s face.