Chapter 167 Vengeful Craftsman 1

The ancient doors groaned open, altering everything nearby; the rhythmic pounding noises of a large metal hammer suddenly stopped.

Jay and his party entered. The skeletons guarded them with a semi-circular formation and quickly scanned for enemies.

The room was large, but despite its size it was flooded with orange light coming from an opening in the right side of the room. It was like a river of bubbling lava was just behind the wall.

On the very right of the room was a large stone cube with a pool of the molten yellow substance on top. Some of it floated effortlessly above the pool and swirled around, forming a molten cylinder; perfect for inserting a sword into for forging.

Various engravings, runes and metallic symbols covered the cube, each of them shimmering slowly which is probably what gave the yellow molten fluid its gravity-defying abilities.

Near it, a metal anvil was sitting. It was much larger than a normal anvil to suit the giant weapons being hammered with it.

Some tool racks with various oversized metal instruments and other blacksmith equipment were nearby, as well as a thick stone table and a black pool of oil and stagnated water.

It was a blacksmith forge fit for an expert.

Despite there being a metal-working forge, the room was littered with stone weapons of all different shapes and sizes, most of which were nothing more than rubble on the ground. It was almost like the blacksmith was disappointed in its own work as it didn’t even bother racking them.

Between all of these stood what they came here for: A large stone statue stood there with thick engraved armour and a large stone belly.

Seemingly, it was angered by intruders distracting its work. Its eyes were like blazing embers which gazed at them with a tense focus.

Compared to the other soldiers in helvetia it seemed quite distinguished based on its thicker and ornamental armour. Patterns of trees, magic and towers were all over it.

What was strange about the large statue was that it wasn’t holding its hammer with its gauntlet; it was holding a pair of metal tongs which held its hammer..

In its other hand it held a long glowing piece of metal.

“Odd…” Jay thought, thinking that it should be using the tongs to hold the hot metal instead of its hammer.

It seemed that the heat didn’t affect its stone body – but why use tongs to hold a hammer?

The large statue turned around and set its metal hammer down next to the anvil with a deep thud and a low ring. Next, it grabbed one of the stone weapons nearby – it was another hammer, the only difference is that it was stone instead of metal.

“Strange…” Jay thought, looking for any clues.

There were no other enemies in the room, so Jay decided to let Blue lead the attack again.

The skeletons all marched forward with their own hammers, surrounding the large statue as it stomped forward in response; each of its own steps creating deep thudding sounds coursing through the room.

Anya was ready to launch a bolt as soon as the skeletons attacked and took the enemies’ aggression, meanwhile Jay took this opportunity to analyse the statue.

<[Hessven – Level 8]>

HP 700/700

Armour 500

<[Skills]>

[Water spear] (Nullified)

– This spell is no longer useable

[Guided Hammer] (Passive)

– Continuous usage of hammers provides a damage bonus

– +7% damage with hammers

[Eternal Forger] (Passive)

– Many lifetimes spent in the forge has caused a change

– 100% heat resistance

[Bulwark’s Vine] (Passive)

– My armour is an extension of myself, I even sleep in it; I am one with it.

– 15% of armour converted into bonus health

[Restless Strength] (Passive)

– Unstoppable, unmovable.

– Crowd control abilities have no effect

[Tool Bond]

– A master craftsman has become one with their tools. The bond grows stronger the longer the tools are used.

– +322% Efficiency

– 1/2 Tools bound

[Brittle Armour]

– 40% damage reduction to slashing, stabbing damage.

– 20% more damage taken from crushing damage.

[Helvetia’s Revenge]

– Magic damage immune.

– Any wielded weapons become cursed.

<[Description]>

[An honoured servant of the Helvetian King, turned to stone. A once legendary blacksmith, now purely relying on instinct to forge. Time passes, but the hammer continues to strike. Hessven works tirelessly, forging weapons for the King’s great revenge.]

“Huh, no active abilities… well, there is that water one but I guess it lost the ability after it turned to stone.” Jay squinted at it, scratching his chin.

Compared to the spearmen and swordsmen statues, this one seemed very well-fed; at least before it turned to stone anyway. It had thicker limbs and a large stone belly; all covered by its thick gothic ornamental armour.

Unlike other statues, it had no helmet. It would probably be too cumbersome when crafting, and it was bald with a thick stone beard.

With the statue surrounded, the skeletons crept closer to begin their attacks, but the statue took the initiative and lunged forward.

*BOOM!~*

With a sideways swing, its stone hammer instantly connected. The feeble creature was instantly smashed to pieces, its spine flying into a wall and falling apart.

“Shit.” Jay thought as he quickly resummoned it.

The level one skeleton had 15 health and no armour, so it was hard to determine how much damage was actually done – until another hammer swing came flying at Sweeper.

Sweeper dropped its hammer as it was similarly sent flying, though it maintained its form as it slammed against a wall.

Despite its rib cage being mostly snapped off and one of its hands lying on the ground, it instantly jumped back into the fight.

Jay smiled seeing how his minions just didn’t care about being wounded. If they were human it would count as being mortally wounded if they were living. No human could ever hope to match their tenacity, or how quickly they could jump right back into a fight.

The statue had quite a different reaction as it saw that its damage was merely superficial. Shouldn’t they stay down for at least a moment to recover?

The statue had never fought the undead before, and it definitely didn’t expect them to be entering its forge. What happened to the guards? Surely they wouldn’t have fallen to a small force of undead and two humans. Nevertheless, they were here now and it would fight. The thirst for Helvetia’s revenge still was not quenched.

Seeing that the skeletons wouldn’t go down so easily, it immediately changed its tactics. It swung again at Red as it dashed to a corner; the swing missed though as it was simply trying to clear a path to a more defensible position.

Jay analysed Sweeper to check just how hard the statue was hitting.

HP [38/60]

“Damn, 22 damage? Good thing it missed Red.” Jay nodded, seeing Red dodge-jump to the side.

The skeletons used to have 5 bonus HP from the silt wolf bones, but now they relied on Jay’s new armour, giving them 20 extra HP. It was a good trade-off once they evolved into fully-formed skeletons.

Without the armour they would only be able to take two hits, and being able to take an extra hit was a huge difference, especially since collectively they could take an extra four hits.

The skeletons had managed to get in a few hits of their own – though it was clear this was going to be a long fight after Jay saw their damage numbers.

[4] [4] [4]

“Abysmal.” he pursed his lips, seeing the pathetic damage.

“This will be a long fight.”