Chereads / Born in flame / Chapter 2 - The C-rank gate

Chapter 2 - The C-rank gate

After resting for a few hours, Apollo looked at his status and smiled.

[Name: Apollo Hart]

[Age: 18]

[Strength: 100]

[Agility: 151]

[Sense: 160]

[Vitality: 88]

[Power: 227]

[Attribute: Hellfire]

[Attribute mastery: Novice «3% mastery»]

'My stats increased quite well, and what's this? 3% mastery?'

Intrigued at the change in the Hellfire mastery and the status window, Apollo was suddenly approached by a group of 5 hunters, amongst whom were the 3 he had met in front of the gate.

"Oh, it is you, E-rank? You managed to defeat the dungeon boss, I'm impressed, truly. Now, if you would be so kind as to hand over its core, that would be highly appreciated." The leader of the group said, trying to look as dignified as possible.

Sitting down on a log, Apollo turned his gaze to the leader. "Why do you talk like such a moron? Are you trying to cosplay as a 1900s British nobleman?"

Taken aback, the leader responded in an offended tone. "Is this how you talk to others? Don't be surprised when you end up dead in an alley. I only asked you for the core, nicely."

"Heh, do you think I'm an idiot? Do you think that 'asking' me to give you the core as nicely as you can won't make me realize that what you're actually saying is this: "Give me the core or I'll take it from you and beat your ass."? And since I'm just an E-rank and you're a group there's literally no chance that the police would ever believe me, so win-win for you lazy pieces of trash profiting off of other people. Now, fuck off." Apollo said calmly, staring the leader straight in the eyes.

The leader sighed. "Well, don't blame me for this, if you weren't a moron, this wouldn't have happened."

The leader created 5 small balls of water, launching them at high speed towards Apollo while the other four hunters charged at him.

'Don't you need to be at least a high D-rank to be able to use long ranged attacks with your element? He's definitely the strongest.'

The other four hunters could probably only use their elements if it was physically touching their body, otherwise it would crumble.

"Hey, did you know burning is considered to be one of the most painful ways to die?" Apollo said, grinning and tilting his head to avoid the water bullets.

Willing Hellfire into his legs, Apollo crashed through the four hunters towards the leader, dodging more water bullets in the process. 4 large tentacles of water attacked him, preventing him from getting closer.

He could see that the leader was already out of breath, the water manipulation draining his stamina very quickly.

"Heh, maybe you should have worked on your stamina rather than your vocabulary. Die."

A baseball sized bullet of hellfire appeared on his fingertip, quickly launching towards the leader, who was too exhausted to dodge.

'Much better than before. My power has increased by quite a lot.' Apollo smiled. 'Let me try something.'

Running towards the 4 hunters, Apollo jumped into the air, flipping upside down and aiming his palm at them.

Releasing the remaining Hellfire left in his body, flames erupted out of his palm like a flamethrower. His snow white hair waved in the air as his body was propelled backwards, high into the air from the pressure of the fire.

Landing on the ground, Apollo saw the corpses of the hunters, burnt to a crisp, even their cheap armor melted.

'I need Vitality, I should really start purposefully getting hit or something. Or just ask someone to hit me and then regenerate.'

Taking the boss's core, Apollo was about to stash it in his bag when he saw another system message.

[Alert: 'Core consumption' available.]

'Core consumption? The hell?'

Tapping his finger on 'Core consumption', a description showed up.

[Due to the Hellfire coursing through his body, the user can eat monster cores. Gains a portion of the monster's stats.]

'Core consumption? Sweet. Hellfire is pretty op.' Apollo thought, throwing the core in his mouth and swallowing.

[Strength stat increased by 6, Agility stat increased by 3, Sense stat increased by 11, Vitality stat increased by 14, Power stat increased by 21]

'That's pretty good. It's definitely worth it, this cheap ass core definitely wouldn't give me much money.'

Apollo imbued his body with Hellfire and ran to the exit, killing any more wolves and other monsters he encountered with Hellfire bullets and punches.

Looking at his status window, Apollo noticed that his Hellfire mastery was at 4%.

'That jumped up quite a lot, I wonder what happens when it's at 100%.' Apollo thought, exiting the gate.

...

"I'm home."

"Hey, Apollo, how'd it go?" Ryan said enthusiastically from the living room.

'It's best I don't tell anyone about Hellfire, I never heard of anything close to it.'

"Pretty good, I killed a few wolves and one big white one. Should get us a few hundred. Could you sell them? I'm hella tired, I'm going to bed."

"Yeah, of course. You aren't hurt or something right?"

"What? No, I'm fine, just tired. I'm going to go to another dungeon tomorrow. Frankly, unless I get stronger fast, I doubt that I'll afford paying for mother's hospital bills. Fuckers keep increasing the price. Anyways, I'll be going to bed, goodnight."

...

Standing in front of a large C-rank gate, Apollo braced himself. This would be much harder than the E-rank gate. Every single enemy would be at least at the level of the last gate's boss, maybe stronger.

As many different groups of hunters gathered in front of the gate, preparing to go inside, Apollo stood out as a maniac in the eyes of the others. He was stepping into the C-rank gate, a place where every squad was left to fend for themselves and rarely received help from others, alone.

Not caring, Apollo walked into the gate. 'I won't settle for less than C-rank, I won't. I'll get stronger, mother, father, I promise.'

Apollo found himself in a courtyard in front of a massive gothic castle after passing through the gate. There, he saw hunters fighting what seemed to be Oni. Multiple smaller Oni were fighting the hunters while one massive Oni was causing havoc by attacking anyone in its path. Multiple fireballs, large boulders and other types of elemental magic was thrown at the large Oni, but it easily destroyed them by merely swinging its large arms and continued to cause chaos.

Apollo, before had discovered he had an affinity for magic, began studying different types of monsters and their weaknesses in hope that he could be at least a guide for hunters. He learned that Oni could only be defeated with raw skill or raw power, as they devoted their entire lives to fighting and martial arts and had no major weaknesses.

Before taking any action, Apollo wanted to perform some experiments. He first used body amplification on his head, and the world slowed down or, more accurately, his thoughts sped up. He could hear every individual footstep, blade clash, and even the whoosh of the arrows flying through the air. He was also able to see the magic flowing through his veins and through others, allowing him to determine the Oni's and hunters' weaknesses by determining where their magic power was least concentrated and where attacking would cause the most damage.

Next, Apollo amplified his entire body, causing hellfire to spread throughout his body and increasing his strength, speed, and other abilities. However, this quickly tired him out.

[Hellfire mastery: 7%]

Apollo's goal was to achieve 100% Hellfire mastery, so he conserved energy by amplifying only his eyes and ran into the courtyard to attack the Oni. The Oni were formidable creatures, standing over seven feet tall with hard skin and perfectly defined muscles. They had large horns on their heads and jagged teeth in their mouths, and they wielded dual serrated curved swords. Their blood-red skin signified their danger, just like poisonous frogs on Earth.

Jumping into the air, Apollo delivered powerful punches to one of the Oni in the courtyard and then to another one's stomach, launching it high into the air.

Extending his index finger, Apollo fired a Hellfire bullet towards the defenseless Oni, watching it burn into a crisp. He jumped towards the Oni once again, but this time he targeted the shiny core.

With each Hellfire attack he launched and with each minute he used Hellfire body amplification he saw his Power stat increasing along with his Hellfire mastery. After dispatching four more minor Oni warriors in a similar way, Apollo threw the five cores into his mouth, making sure none of the hunters angry that he stole their kill noticed.

[Strength stat increased by 41, Agility stats increased by 40, Sense stat increased by 28, Vitality stat increased by 49, Power stat increased by 12]

'Huh, it seems these Oni have very low Power stats. No wonder I don't see them using any magic.'

Apollo's senses suddenly screamed at him to dodge as Hellfire instantly filled his entire body. Apollo's thoughts sped up, and he could sense that an ice spike was heading directly at the back of his head with massive speed.

Tilting his head to the right, Apollo watched as the ice spike flew right where his head was a second ago.

Turning around, Apollo looked at the mage who attacked him, letting his bloodlust leak out.

"Who the hell are you?" Apollo said, looking at the mage as if he was a bug.

"I'm Fredrick Balliol, A B-rank hunter and the son of Charles Balliol, guild master and also the strongest hunter of the Balliol guild. And you're the asshole who stole my prey, so you better give me the cores or there will be consequences!"

'B-rank, huh? That means most of his stats should be above 1000. This isn't going to be easy.'

"When?"

"What do you mean when? Just now, twice!"

Apollo snickered, responding to the enraged hunter. "No, when did I ask?"

Apollo watched as Fredrick's face turned red from rage, his golden hair perfectly contrasting it. Magic power coalesced around him as multiple ice spikes appeared around him and a wave of water barreled towards Apollo.

"This is the power of a B-rank hun-Mmmph!"

Not letting Fredrick finish the sentence, Apollo lunged towards him, grabbing his face and slamming him onto the hard, cold ground.

Fredrick launched a swift kick towards Apollo, which he dodged.

"Pathetic. How can you call yourself a B-rank hunter? I see daddy pulled some strings back at the hunter's association, didn't he? Tch, you're barely C-rank."

Winding up for a punch, Apollo felt magic power coalesce all around him. A small, igloo sized sphere of ice appeared around the both of them, and inside it appeared many icicles aiming for Apollo.

Hellfire appeared around Apollo's fist, closely tracing its path as Apollo punched Fredrick so hard in the stomach the magic-hardened stone in the ground cracked to pieces.

Hellfire clung to Fredrick's body, quickly incinerating him as the other hunters watched in horror.

Taking a few Oni cores out of Fredrick's pocket, Apollo walked to the back behind a wall, consuming the cores.

Apollo rested, eating the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he packed with him while watching the fight between the Oni and Hunters almost turn to the hunter's favor before the big guy ran in and caused some rampage every time.

With his stamina restored, Apollo once again joined the fight, now targeting the big Oni who no one had been able to kill yet.

Upon a closer look, Apollo noticed the Oni stood at least 12 feet tall with large bulky muscles and hard armor. It wielded gauntlets which had embedded inside them two monster cores each, powering up each of his punches with a shockwave of magic.

'I'm lacking in strength and vitality, so let's have a good old punch off.' Apollo thought, approaching the big Oni and letting his bloodlust leak out.

Noticing the bloodlust, the Oni instantly turned to face Apollo. The Oni bowed slightly, which was its way of saying that it recognized him as a worthy opponent. Bowing back, Apollo let hellfire course through his entire body.

Apollo made the first move, launching towards the large Oni.

'The closer I get, the harder it will be to hit me.'

Appearing below the Oni, Apollo jumped up, delivering a powerful punch to its face, but only slightly staggering it. The Oni retaliated, punching Apollo and sending him spinning into the ground.

After rolling on the ground for a bit, Apollo flipped into the air and landed on his feet, stopping his momentum.

"Hey, you tore up my hoodie." Apollo said, grabbing a part of a large pillar, Apollo threw it at the Oni, which easily caught it and crushed it in its arms and threw it back, but now in the form of dozens of little extremely fast moving pebbles.

'Now! While It's off balance!'

Apollo sped up even further, appearing behind the Oni in no time, and kicking it in the back of the knee, then jumping up and kicking it in the back of the head immediately after.

Apollo was about to deliver a punch to its face when it stood up and counter-attacked.

Their fists clashed, creating a massive shockwave that sent all the close-by hunters and Oni to the ground. Apollo climbed up on the Oni's arm and ran along it, jumping precisely when the Oni started thrashing its arm, launching him about a hundred meters into the air. The Oni followed, its leap cracking the ground from sheer force.

Smirking, Apollo said. "Thanks for making this easy for me. Now, die."

Using Hellfire like a jet engine to propel himself towards the Oni, Apollo delivered a thundering punch to its face, sending it barreling to the ground and creating a small crater from the impact.

Landing, Apollo burned the corpse and took out the core. The core shone much more brightly than the others, no doubt containing massive amounts of magic power. Plopping it in his mouth, Apollo advanced towards the large castle as the status window showed up again.

[Strength stat increased by 75, Agility stats increased by 46, Sense stat increased by 25, Vitality stat increased by 49, Power stat increased by 21]

Turning around, Apollo saw an increasing number of B and C-rank hunters entering the gate, eager to claim their share of the profit. However, thanks to the heightened senses granted by Hellfire, Apollo could sense the presence of several strong individuals on the inside, even stronger than the large Oni he had just defeated.

Walking through the large gate, Apollo is greeted by the sight of a small garden leading to steps and the main castle gate. As Apollo walked through the garden, A loud clap of thunder sounded, signaling the beginning of a storm.

Apollo chuckled to himself as he remembered his fondness for storms back home. He used to love watching the storm clouds roll in and the sound of rain banging against his windows.

Raindrops started falling everywhere around the castle as Apollo walked up to the main entrance, a large gray gate with intricate designs carved on it.

With a slight push, the gate slowly opened, revealing the castle interior to Apollo.

The castle was a blend of minimalism and luxury, featuring intricate wooden designs and perfectly maintained dark brick walls. It simultaneously evoked awe and respect, but also an eerie atmosphere that lingered in the air.

Apollo felt several strong Oni walking the halls, patrolling. Sparing no time, Apollo started running towards the closest Oni.

As Apollo ran through the empty, dark halls of the castle only illuminated by lamps and torches, he looked outside through the fogged up windows, watching as the massive thunderstorm put out the fire in the village right outside the castle. Dead bodies laid on the ground, both hunters and Oni alike.

Apollo felt a pang of guilt for attacking the Oni, knowing that from their perspective, the hunters had simply burst into their home uninvited and started killing them. However, he also knew that if the Oni had the chance, they would have done the same to humanity.

Apollo finally reached the Oni, which immediately drew its weapon, a long obsidian katana, from its sheath. Its hilt had multiple monster cores embedded inside of it, brimming with magic power.

Apollo also noticed that this Oni was not like the others, as it had a noticeably slimmer build with more focus towards speed and agility.

Deep red fire enveloped the katana's blade as the Oni took a battle stance, prepared for battle. Apollo spread Hellfire throughout his body, concentrating it in his head and fists the most.

Launching himself towards the Oni, Apollo let out a wave of Hellfire towards the Oni, a seemingly undodgeable attack as they were in a narrow hallway.

The Oni released its magic power, enveloping it around its entire body, and lunged straight into the dark blue flames coming towards it.

Upon contact, the two flames instantly started battling. Each hungrily tried to overtake the other, clinging to each other in their own battle of attrition.

The Hellfire, clearly being more powerful than the Oni's red flames, seemed to be winning, but the Oni fed his own red flames much more magic power, keeping the two flames at a steady equilibrium, the Oni's flame eventually winning.

Running towards the Oni, Apollo let loose a flurry of kicks, all of which the Oni dodged, seemingly with ease.

The Oni blurred, even to Apollo's Hellfire enhanced senses, and swung his katana at Apollo's neck, who barely managed to dodge by ducking down below the strike.

Apollo tried to punch the Oni, but his punch was blocked with the flat of the blade and he had to dodge a swift counterattack.

As the battle raged on, Apollo found himself getting stronger and faster with each passing moment. Every time he dodged an attack or blocked a strike, he felt a surge of power coursing through his veins. His senses were sharpening and he could feel his strength and speed increasing at an alarming rate. It was as if the very act of fighting was fueling his growth, pushing him to new heights of power and ability. The Hellfire within him resonated, responding to his every command and amplifying his every move.

As the Oni swung his katana towards him, Apollo moved quickly, closing the distance between them in a blur. With a swift movement, he grabbed the hilt of the katana and wrenched it out of the Oni's grasp, using the momentum to deliver a powerful kick. The Oni stumbled backwards, momentarily off balance from the surprise attack.

Hellfire engulfed the katana, allowing Apollo to pull out the four cores from inside it and swallow them. The cores were weak and didn't give him a significant boost, but that didn't matter. His main goal was to disarm the Oni, which he accomplished by wrenching the katana out of its grasp.

The Oni and Apollo now stood on equal footing, the katana reduced to ashes. The battle began anew, this time in the form of intense hand-to-hand combat. Both warriors approached each other cautiously, their eyes locked in a fierce gaze as they prepared for the next move. The air around them hummed with tension and anticipation, each one waiting for the other to make the first strike.

Without hesitation, Apollo struck first, launching a powerful punch that was quickly followed by a spinning elbow strike. The Oni was quick on its feet, narrowly dodging the punch with a graceful sidestep. However, the spinning elbow strike was too fast to evade, and it connected with a resounding impact, sending the Oni spinning towards the wall. The Oni collided with a loud thud, momentarily stunned by the force of the attack. Apollo used the time to approach, throwing a quick kick at the Oni.

Blocking the kick with its forearm, the Oni launched a quick barrage of punches and kicks, managing to hit Apollo multiple times.

The two exchanged dozens of punches and kicks a second, their bodies moving in a blur as they fought, and while the Oni was at first winning, Apollo soon closed the gap and more.

After a prolonged exchange of blows, the Oni finally grew tired, slowing down enough for Apollo to comfortably strike. He landed multiple blows on the Oni's body, causing it to collapse to the ground, too tired to do anything but watch. As he was about to deliver the final blow, Apollo was reminded of his father rushing into his room to save him from the fire. The Oni's expression mirrored his father's at that moment – not a fear of death, but a selfless concern for never seeing its loved ones again.

Stopping his fist just in front of the Oni's face, Apollo walked past it. He knew that Oni experienced feelings, but had no idea they could experience complex emotions.

Continuing toward the other Oni inside the castle, Apollo looked at his status window.

[Name: Apollo Hart]

[Age: 18]

[Strength: 895]

[Agility: 1245]

[Sense: 894]

[Vitality: 935]

[Power: 1886]

[Attribute: Hellfire]

[Attribute mastery: Novice «54% mastery»]

'I knew my stats increased, but not that they increased this much. Was this purely from fighting? I certainly didn't get these stats only through eating cores.' Apollo thought, turning his gaze to the Attribute mastery tab.

'I should reach 100% soon, I wonder what will happen. Let's go.'

After a while, Apollo reached another Oni guard who wielded a halberd adorned with more cores. Wind quickly spun around the halberd as the Oni took a battle stance and swung the halberd multiple times in a rotating motion, sending blades of wind towards Apollo.

With his amplified eyesight, Apollo saw the normally nigh-invisible blades of wind as clear as day, flipping into the air and dodging the blades. As Apollo landed, he stomped on the ground, releasing a massive wave of Hellfire from the soles of his feet and blasting towards the Oni.

The Oni's eyes narrowed in focus as it channeled its formidable magical powers. A pulsating aura of magic surrounded its body, creating a tempestuous whirlwind that ripped through the castle's walls. The force of the magic was so great that it left a gaping hole in the structure, causing the entire castle to shudder from the impact.

Apollo got swept up by the massive whirlwind and his ludicrous momentum turned against him as he barely managed to stop himself in time to not ram into a wall.

This caused the other guards to leave their position to investigate this occurrence, their gazes turning on Apollo.

Apollo counted that there were 5 Oni guards, each wielding a different weapon and a different element.

The fire Oni was already taken care of, so only the wind, earth, water, light and shadow guards remained.

Apollo had to choose the Oni he would be targeting. He eventually chose the wind Oni as it seemed to wield the most raw power along being one of the most annoying elements.

Apollo released as much bloodlust as he could and using Hellfire, he launched himself towards the wind Oni. The walls of the castle moved between the two of them as dark arms reached for him from the shadows. Changing his trajectory in but a mere moment, Apollo chose the water Oni as his next target. Ice magic, the advanced form of water magic, was probably the most annoying type of magic due to its versatility.

A skilled ice mage could zone out areas, create a solid defense and attack using a combination of water and ice, but Apollo was obviously a counter. His Hellfire, at its most powerful, was a transcendent force, a manifestation of the fundamental power of creation and destruction. It blazed with the frigid intensity of absolute zero and burned with the scorching heat of a singularity, a paragon of the duality of the universe. It was a force beyond comprehension, a source of unbridled energy that could shape the very fabric of reality itself. It was a fire that defied the laws of physics, a living embodiment of the primordial forces that drive the cosmos. Time, space, dimensions, even gods were nothing before it. It was a fire that could not be contained, a fire that would consume all in its path and leave nothing but void in its wake.

Despite his incredible abilities, Apollo was still far from mastering the full potential of his Hellfire. Its power was beyond his control, a force that could easily consume him if he dared to tap into even a fraction of its true strength. Even at its weakest, Hellfire was a force to be reckoned with, capable of melting steel and vaporizing entire landscapes. As Apollo's mastery and power would rise, he knew he would unlock its full capabilities.

The light Oni created a solid light construct, a very sharp rotating disk of pure light, which shot towards Apollo. Extending his index finger towards the light Oni, he launched a tiny Hellfire bullet. The Hellfire bullet and the construct clashed, the Hellfire soon engulfing it and destroying it.

As the ice Oni summoned a thick barrier of ice between itself and Apollo, Hellfire concentrated in his fist. With a single, precise punch, Apollo shattered the barrier, sending shards of ice flying back at the Oni with incredible force. The Oni was caught off guard, unable to defend against the sudden attack as the shards of ice pelted its body, causing it to stumble backwards.

Using Hellfire to propel himself towards the Oni, Apollo grinned and whispered "die" as he delivered a monstrous kick to its stomach, sending it flying down the hallway and through multiple walls.

Apollo felt a massive magic signature approaching him and swiftly turned around, seeing a powerful bolt of lightning flying towards him.

'Fuck, I let it charge up an attack while I tunnel visioned on the water Oni. I can't dodge this!'

Calling on all the Hellfire in his body, Apollo tried to create a barrier just like the fire Oni he had fought previously had done.

He failed, the Hellfire in his body running rampant and escaping, resulting in a massive explosion. The lighting, even if weakened and slowed, penetrated through the Hellfire and coursed into Apollo. The smell of flesh burning permeated through the air as Apollo was launched through the castle, ending up in a small watchtower just outside the castle.

Apollo's body manifested all the Hellfire it could, trying to heal his internal injuries. It was too much, however, and Apollo's consciousness started fading as lightning lit up the sky. But, then, when all seemed lost, the status window appeared.

[Attribute mastery: Beginner reached]

[Hellfire evolution is now in progress.]

As Apollo lay there, his body aching and his mind hazy from the intense pain, he suddenly felt a change within him. The Hellfire that burned within him was undergoing an evolution, transforming and growing more powerful. His wounds healed and the pain disappeared, clarity returned to his mind. The Hellfire was quickly spinning inside his body, increasing in power and density, with a hint of violet that wasn't there before.

[Upgrading status window]

The one thing every human shared, that every single human could recognize, was the status window. It was always there when you needed it, showing you your stats you have gotten throughout your life. It didn't do anything, aside from displaying a person's stats and skills in numerical form, providing a convenient way for people to understand and compare their abilities. And yet, it seemed that even it had its secrets. At first glance, only the color changed, changing from orange to purple. At second glance, nothing changed as well.

'Huh? Nothing changed. What?'

Before Apollo had time to contemplate the status window change, another window popped up.

[Personality being forcibly changed to allow for optimal usage of Hellfire]

As Apollo clutched his head in agony, he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread wash over him. He knew what was happening - the Hellfire was attempting to forcibly alter his personality, to mold him into the perfect weapon. He fought against it, desperately clinging to his sense of self and the memories that made him who he was. He was terrified he would forget the memories of his family, of the fire, and become a ruthless murderer.

authors note: personality and mental state are different here

[Personality change failed, retrying.]

The pain started anew as Apollo laid on the ground, hoping for the torture to end.

[Personality change failed, retrying.]

[Personality change failed, retrying.]

[Personality change failed, retrying.]

[Personality change failed, retrying.]

[Personality change failed, retrying.]

[Personality change failed, retrying.]

[Personality change failed, retrying.]

.

.

.

.

[Personality change failed.]

[A change in personality has been determined to not be necessary at this time. Evolution step will not be implemented.]

After what felt like hours of failed attempts, the messages finally stopped. Was it over? Apollo was scared to breathe a sigh of relief, not knowing whether more torment would come.

[Host's body will now undergo evolution for optimal use of Hellfire]

As the searing pain returned, it seemed to permeate every inch of Apollo's being. He cried out in agony as his body convulsed and twisted, consumed by the Hellfire within. He had no idea what was happening to him, but he knew that it was beyond anything he had ever experienced before. He could feel his very cells shifting and changing, and he could only pray that it would end soon.

[Evolution complete.]

As quickly as the pain appeared, it subsided. Apollo could finally sit up, breathing a sigh of relief. Noticing that the piece of debris that was previously falling off the top of the castle had not even made it half-way to the ground, he realized that all that happened within a span of half a second, if not less.

Opening the status window, Apollo's face immediately contorted into an expression of shock.