บท 127: Hell’s Training
Skin boiling heat, thick—almost palpable—moisture lingered in the air and stuck to their skin like honey. Occasionally, fissures of heat would burst from the lava; a gust of incinerating wind accompanied by a dangerous splash of magma.
And yet, they pushed forward. Following behind Willow as she led them through the twists and turns that remained in the Lava Pools.
The cohort was experiencing mutual turmoil. None of them could escape the heat, except for Emile, his Gift regulated his body temperature—his skin was still soaked from the humidity alone, but he had no complaints.
They finally stopped after a day of travel. Willow brought them to a door, a large, oversized, onyx door that could have been made for giants.
She turned around, sweat lingering on her brow, and smiled:
"Who wants to go first?" She asked, excitement apparent in her tone.
"First?" Emile repeated, but with a higher intonation towards the end.
"I didn't tell you?" She grinned, "This is a labyrinth our first king created, only one person can enter at a time."
"And what? The rest of us are just supposed to sweat out here?" Blood contended.
"I didn't miss you—" Willow fired back, "I want you to know that."
"I want you to know you're gaining weig—"
Willow flashed across the room and slammed Blood's skull into the ground.
"I'll go first then," Emile announced just before stepping towards the double-door and grabbing its handle.
"Have fun!" Willow shouted back, still occupied with Blood.
Emile pulled open the gates and a gust of heat exploded forth, searing the hairs scattered across his body.
He stepped in and immediately the foul stench of carbon buried within his nose along with a burnt, decaying aftertaste.
Surprisingly, it was oftly dark in the labyrinth. Upon entering, Emile found himself in a widely made hallway.
The walls around him stretched high above and a great distance separated them, Emile felt as though he was walking down a multi-lane street.
Magma hugged the edges of the hallway, slow and dense. It wasn't like the sea of lava that was hot enough to ripple and splash, this magma has cooled down some, but it remained warm enough to contribute a soft orange glow to the atmosphere.
The walls were barren, lacking any form of artistry or design. Simple but overwhelming tall, black stone walls.
Emile continued. He walked along the edge of the hall in search of an exit, eventually coming to a crack.
The crack skyrocketed up the wall, splitting it in two and separating wide enough to be considered a passageway. Emile slightly crouched down and entered.
Now in the walls, Emile pushed on. He squeezed through narrow bits, crawled underneath collapsed boulders, and popped out on the other side.
The other side being a forty foot drop down onto a ring of stone in a sea of iridescent orange. The stone platform was neither small nor large, it was just the right size for an arena.
Emile let himself slip off the rocks and he plummeted down onto the stone. He secured the landing and looked around; far in the distance, across the molten sea, was another pair of gigantic doors almost identical to the previous ones.
Suddenly, a blip spouted in the lava and a splash of the molten rock erupted onto the stone platform. The handful of lava sizzled and then squirmed together until the silhouette of a doll remained.
The lava doll stood up, it shook its head and drops of lava flew in the air.
"Hello—" the doll turned towards Emile, "I am the guardian of this labyrinth, Pyra, I will be assisting you in today's training."
"Assisting me?" Emile asked.
"Welcome to Hell's Training!" The little doll shouted whilst erecting her arms into the air, "My master designed this labyrinth to train his most loyal subjects! I applaud your loyalty and dedication to my master! In return, I will control the monster spawns during your stay here in addition to offering helpful tips and tricks for your overall betterment!"
"Okay…."
"What difficulty would you like to start with?" Pyra asked.
"What are the difficulties?"
"The difficulties align with the outer world's ranking system! The lowest difficulty is Chosen! Chosen does not have any tiers affiliated with it, unlike the majority of ranks such as beginner, intermediate, and late Enlightened!"
Pyra stopped momentarily then continued.
"What difficulty would you like to start with?"
Emile raised his eyebrows.
'She's like an NPC'
"Chosen," Emile answered. He wanted to go through all the ranks in order, hopefully giving him an accurate understanding of what each rank's strength is supposed to be like.
"Alrighty!" Pyra exclaimed.
Behind her small body, the sea of lava began to boil and shift. A bubble quickly formed and expanded, it popped and a creature burst from the center.
Just born, the monster propelled out of the bubble and landed on the stone platform across from Emile.
Standing at about a foot tall, it reminded Emile of a basketball or soccer ball. Its body was slightly transparent, but overall the creature was a deep orange and it lacked any limbs or structure of any kind.
Emile summoned his scimitar and charm, but looking at his opponent, he wasn't sure he even needed it.
'How hard can it be?'
'It's just a slime'
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