Absolute Craft-Chapter 69: Level 15 (2)

Chapter 69: Level 15 (2)

Blake walked past the crevice in the wall where he and Beatrix had once fought the Stone Troll. He had to secure Sol onto his helmet because the little dragon kept trying to fly off—eager to find another troll and experience the thrill of battling the Stone Existence himself.

It felt as if Blake had developed a sixth sense for Sol’s impulses, often sensing the little one’s intentions before Sol did.

Sol shook his head in protest, but Blake pressed on.

Darkness stretched on endlessly. Without Sol’s luminous form, Blake’s dark armor would have blended into total invisibility. Veins of precious minerals glimmered in vain attempts to catch his eye, but he ignored them.

He advanced resolutely, hungry for new adversaries.

He strained to hear any sound from the horn in his helmet, but the mining node was so silent that even the faintest hum from the Lost King’s crown piece would have been jarringly obvious. Curiously, there was only a single corridor. Blake never had to decide which route to take; he just followed the downward slope, going ever deeper. Eventually, he lost track of how far he’d gone, guided only by the darkness.

With Sol around, Blake barely felt the drastic drop in temperature.

At last, he halted. A barely discernible door frame blended into the darkness so seamlessly that he almost walked straight into it. He brushed his hand over the frame, prompting the game system’s message to appear:

<You’re eligible to enter the Winter Punishment Chamber>

Once he accepted the challenge, the door—though heavy—swung open as if weightless, allowing him to push it aside easily. A thin beam of light appeared, and as he pushed the door wider, he got a glimpse of what lay beyond.

The chamber was carved from pale stone, reminiscent of Sol’s dragon husk. Its oval interior was large enough to fit twenty sports cars, and its surfaces were meticulously polished, as if the craftsman despised rough edges. Simple bulbs in the ceiling illuminated two statues—a troll and a human.

Fashioned from a malleable stone, the troll statue matched the height of the Stone Troll Blake and Beatrix had previously battled. It held a polished rod topped with a sharp shard and wore ornate armor composed of countless tiny fragments. Even imagining running a finger along the chest piece conjured visions of endless cuts.

This statue stood at the far end of the cave, while the human statue stood closer to the center—depicting a lanky, middle-aged man dressed in flowing robes and wearing an absurdly tall hat, much like a priest from a fantasy tale.

Suddenly, the statue blinked. Its mouth opened, trembling. "Ah... ahh! Ahhhh!" It staggered forward a few steps, then dropped to its knees before Blake in abject reverence. "Oh, the 13th King! His Majesty! I’ve waited so long for you... to beg forgiveness for my poor judgment, which led me and my country to question your grace! We paid a dire price, and I have languished here for countless years—alone, in the cold, under the constant watch of the beast the 11th Lost King created for us, yet we never appreciated it! Oh, successor of the Great One, please, forgive my kingdom’s sins and let me atone for them forever in this chamber!"

"Confusion" hardly captured what Blake felt.

He understood that he was the "successor" the statue spoke of, but beyond that, he was lost. Recognizing Blake’s silence, the statue felt compelled to detail its mistakes.

He had been the chief advisor to the Winter Kingdom’s king—the one who sought help from the Lost Kingdom. After years of negotiations, the Lost Kingdom finally agreed to an alliance, promising the famous soldiers believed to be unbeatable if the Winter Kingdom provided rare local materials. They also sent blacksmiths who forged impressive weapons. But on the day these acclaimed soldiers were to appear, the advisor saw only stone trolls led by a Stone Troll General—the figure now standing behind him.

It fell drastically short of his expectations.

He felt insulted.

After all, the Lost Kingdom’s Aegis deployed soldiers forged from refined materials that looked almost human. Here, after countless talks and offers, the 11th Lost King had given them soldiers apparently made of nothing but stone? 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It was the highest form of mockery!

"Oh, how foolish I was!" he lamented.

Those very creations swiftly meted out punishment for questioning the Lost King. The advisor was taken and thrown into this prison, and the Winter Kingdom stood helpless to save him. All their efforts were crushed by the stone trolls they had once dismissed.

Recalling the Winter Kingdom’s fate, Blake spoke calmly. "Your kingdom is gone."

At those words, the troll statue moved. It tore away from the wall and walked toward the advisor.

Its thunderous steps echoed through the chamber, while the human statue closed its eyes.

"Then... this is it," he whispered. "I’m the reason we ceased to exist. There’s no one left to save... no purpose for this stone human shell..."

The Stone Troll General raised its rod and slammed it down on the statue, splitting it neatly in two.

Chunks of stone fell to the floor. A bluish haze swirled in the space where the man had stood, then vanished.

"As questionable as that man was," Blake said, meeting the Stone Troll General’s gaze, "did you just steal my experience points?"

The monster let out a guttural growl.

Although it recognized Blake had a strong connection to the Lost Kingdom, to the troll, he was merely acknowledged by the kingdom itself. A fragment of the crown may adorn his helmet, but it was still nothing more than a piece.

From the Stone Troll General’s perspective, the human clad in dark armor remained an enemy it had to defeat. Everything he wielded—including that stone dragon and the figure hiding in his shadow—would be executed by its sharpened rod. No exceptions. That was the instinct imprinted on it by its creator.

And no one could make it feel otherwise.