Rise of the Crusader
Chapter 31

Chapter 31: The Hellfire Domain I

“We are here!” Devon exclaimed as they stood in front of a dome-shaped building with a stainless, huge steel door in the training ground.

Staring at the students who were in the surrounding, a smile couldn’t help but appear on Raphael’s face. He had already seen their powers and was working on how to take care of them, now it was time to get a look at the skills that they possessed.

The muscular full-bearded man, the lean man, and the silver-haired woman were also at the door, and once all the students were at the training ground, the voice of the muscular man rang out.

“Now that we are all here, let’s begin.”

“In our last class, we discovered that the majority of you had the same flaw, and this is something that we intend on fixing. This training will rectify all those flaws and when we are done, it will take each of you to the next level.” The muscular man uttered in complete confidence.

The students stared at the area they were about to venture into with a rather determined look on their faces when they heard the muscular man.

They were all putting on the elite division training suits, which comprised of a gold top that had the imprint of an eye on its back, and gold pants with a white stripe at its side.

.....

“Silver, will you do the honor of opening the door” It was the lean man who spoke, as he stared at the woman beside him.

The woman nodded her head, she moved towards the stainless door, and then placed her palm on it.

CREAK!

A few seconds after the woman placed her hand on the door, it began to vibrate, she then took a casual step backward, and the door started opening.

“Let’s go!” The muscular man said, and he along with the other teachers walked into the building. There wasn’t any delay from the students also, once the teachers went in, they also hurried into the dome-shaped building.

“So, it really isn’t just a name, this place is really the hellfire domain!” One of the students exclaimed after walking into the building.

The other students also kept staring at the surrounding with some having an amused look, shock, and even excitement could be seen on some of the student’s faces.

The hellfire domain is really just like its name suggested, It is an area that’s swamped with the eternal flames of hell. Smokes, as well as molten rocks, covered the whole surrounding, and the flames weren’t simply just eternal, they were burning at a degree so intense that they seemed to be able to shred anything into pieces.

“They must be joking, right? There’s no way we will be moving any further from here.” It was Jackson that spoke.

While the students were still a couple of steps away from the flames, they could feel the heat that was coming out of it, and it wasn’t something they wished to venture into.

As they pondered, if this was training or if the academy simply just plotting their demise, the voice of the muscular man rang out. “Cowards!” The muscular man said.

“It’s not like we are asking you to walk through these flames. They are over two hundred rocks in there to help you navigate through them, you simply have to use them to your advantage to escape from those flames and also for the battle ahead.”

“Which Ba-Battle...” Alice stuttered, as a few seconds after the muscular man spoke, she and the other student appeared on the rocks in the sea of flames.

GBAM! GBAM! GBAM! GBAM! GBAM!

GBAM! GBAM! GBAM! GBAM! GBAM!

Suddenly, the ground began trembling, and before the students could even realize what was going on, over twenty figures with a height of a giant appeared in front of them.

The figures were all made from the molten rocks which were on the ground, and as they stood in the sea of flame, flames coiled itself around their body.

“The strength of these golems is determined based on the heads they have. The single-headed golem is the weakest, and the three-headed golem is the strongest. There is also a twenty thousand difference in rank between each golem.”

“A single-headed golem’s power rank is at around twenty thousand, and the three-headed golem is at sixty thousand.” The muscular man said.

There was complete silence after the man spoke as all the students were glaring at him, and when one of them couldn’t bear it anymore he yelled. “What the fuckkk!!! You could have just placed a knife at our neck and slit our throat instead!”

“They are only two students here at 40,000 while the others are below that, how do you expect us to fight against these monsters. Especially the three-headed one.” It was Bane that spoke.

Staring at the three-headed golem and the rest, the frown which was on the face of the students deepened. This wasn’t some fantasy where they could awaken some treasure or artifacts, that would help them. No, none of that was going to be happening.

Death was really death...

“Does the word ‘elite’ mean nothing to you. Anyway, if your seniors could survive the hellfire domain, I see no reason why you shouldn’t.” The muscular man stated.

“There is also a hundred points gained from each golem that is destroyed, and as for the three-headed golem, you will get ten thousand points. You can see that the academy is really generous.”

A scornful look appeared on their faces when they heard the man. It was like they wanted to shred him apart because that was complete wickedness and not in any way generous.

“I should also remind you to try as possible to not let those flames touch you because...” The muscular suddenly paused, a devilish smile then appeared on his face and he said. “You, know what, forget about it.”

“The training will be for thirty minutes, and your time starts now!” As the muscular man whistled, the golems launched themselves at the students.

“Oh shit!” Seeing how the enormous fire golem was rushing forward, the students regained composure, then assumed a battle stance.

Raphael stared at Devon, whose hands were clenched into a tight fist, and he couldn’t help but heave a deep breath.

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

Suddenly, about five arrows suddenly charged forward. The students didn’t need to turn around before they knew who it was that fired that shot, and they simply watched as the arrows met with the golems.

BOOM!

Dwayne’s arrows shot at three of the single-headed golem, and the remaining two hit the two-headed golem. The instant the arrow hit them, their bodies exploded, and they scattered into several pieces.

It was as though Dwayne gave the order, and after his arrows went forward, the others dashed at the golems. Melinda covered her body in a shield of bones, turned her hands into long blades also made of bones, and charged forward.

Becky moved along with the art she brought to life, Camilla was with her undead, but she had them lead the attack, while she stood from behind. Sean was perhaps having the most fun as he ran through the sea of flames, then sending forth the black lightning which coiled around his body at the golems.

BOOM!

Every lightning which he threw at the golem demolished their bodies instantly.

While some students handled the single-headed golem, a couple of them focused on the two-headed golem. And some of the students who handed the two-headed golem were Mason and the twins.

Mason transformed into a titan, while the twins merged. The three of them then fought with one of the two-headed golems in the surrounding.

“Die!!!!!!!!” Mason didn’t hold anything back and just kept sending punches at the two-headed golem in front of him.

The twins also, and unlike Mason whose speed could be considered his major flaw, the twins moved about attacking different parts of the two-headed golem at a frightening pace.

“Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!”

As the golem which Mason and the twins were facing exploded, Mason roared out laughing, and he and the twins moved on to the next.

Mason and the twins weren’t the only ones who teamed up, there were also a few students who fought the golems, and one of them was Aiden and Bane.

“This should be fun!” Raphael, who had been watching the show the whole time, threw away his gloves, he then cracked his knuckles, and then his fingers one after the other.

A different kind of glow then appeared on Raphael. He took a step forward, and as his feet came in contact with the rock, he seemed to have vanished from the area.

While Raphael didn’t possess any supernatural speed or teleportation ability, the way he moved his body around those rocks and dashed forward, he seemed to possess a speed-based power.

“Ra-Raph!” It was Mason that spoke, as he suddenly felt someone walking on his body. Mason turned, and seeing Raphael, his eyebrows furrowed.

Raphael kept a straight face, he then leaped from Mason’s arm and struck his palm at full force at the fire golem he was facing. Once contact was made, Raphael moved back and landed on Mason’s shoulder.

GBAM!

It was first the golem’s hands that crumbled, then the damage soon spread all over his body, and in the blink of an eye, the flames which were around his body began to decrease rapidly. As the flame went off, the rest of the golem’s body crumbled down.

There was a startled look on Mason and the twin’s faces when they saw what had just happened. They stared at Raphael and then gave him a thumbs up.

Raphael, however, moved his eyes past them and stared at Devon, who was being bombarded with attacks from about three single-headed golems. It was already difficult for Devon to handle one golem and now that three came at him, he felt like he was going to die.

“Hmmm” Raphael used Mason’s body to push himself towards the golems which were battling Devon.

In midair, Raphael raised his leg, and when he got to the golem ahead, he swung his leg downward. The collision and disparity of strength between the both of them brought the golem to his knees from that strike.

Raphael didn’t stop at that, and he soon clenched his hand into a tight fist and punched the golem’s head. Once Raphael had the flames around the golem dispersing, he moved to the other three.

GBAM! GBAM! GBAM!

The difference in strength was simply the strength, and soon enough the other three stumbled to the ground.

And despite having taken care of those golems, Raphael didn’t slow down, he soon began to charge at the rest. Raphael’s battle intent was building at a frightening pace, and as he destroyed one golem after the other, he began to love it.

Unbeknownst to him, he was beginning to pick the attention of one of the three-headed golem in the surrounding.