"..."
From the beginning, Bell had a feeling that his transmigration wasn’t just a matter of tapping a screen, but he hadn’t expected things to be this complicated. They were counterparts from entirely different worlds—beings who shouldn’t have had any contact at all—yet here they were, eting face to face.
’Himself’ didn’t seem bothered by Bell’s silence. Anyone would be speechless after hearing sothing like this—just like he had been when he first learned the truth. It was simply too unbelievable to accept right away.
Bell suddenly lifted his head. A question had co to mind.
"Since we’re counterparts from different worlds, what about the skills we awakened?"
"Unfortunately, while there are so differences in magic, our skills are exactly the sa."
A flicker of realization flashed in Bell’s eyes. It seed his transmigration ca with sothing that his parallel self lacked. That ant the key to changing the situation likely lay with him. If every counterpart’s skills remained unchanged, then he, the one whose skill type was different, was the outlier. With that thought, Bell made up his mind.
"What kind of monster is the Black Dragon? Why can’t any of our counterparts defeat it?"
A shadow crossed both ’his’ and Bell Cranel’s face. The battle against the Black Dragon was an eternal darkness for them—not sothing anyone could face lightly. But they weren’t planning to hide anything. As counterparts, they were bound by the sa fate. Sooner or later, they too would have to confront the Black Dragon, if only to break free from this cycle.
"That thing isn’t just hard to fight—it’s monstrously difficult. It’s been manipulating the Dungeon from behind the scenes, using it to nourish and regenerate its wounds. Back when Zeus and Hera’s Familia tried to slay it, they were ultimately wiped out, but even so, they managed to inflict injuries that couldn’t be healed. That damage is the only reason those of us who ca after still have a sliver of hope."
"Also, there’s sothing important you need to rember—defeating the Black Dragon has nothing to do with the sky."
"Huh? I rember the Three Great Adventurers saying the Black Dragon is the ’King of the Skies’. Don’t tell it’s actually a Land Dragon?"
Bell’s question made both ’himself’ and Bell Cranel chuckle. It really was the one ironic part of the whole thing—once hailed as the ’King of the Skies’, the Black Dragon had completely lost the right to fly. That was thanks to the trendous efforts of Zeus and Hera’s Familia. They had stripped the Black Dragon of its dominion over the sky.
"That achievent belongs to Grandpa and Hera’s Familia. Together, they permanently took away the Black Dragon’s ability to fly and sealed the sky itself. That forced the beast to retreat into the deepest depths of the Dungeon. But even that ca at the cost of a Level 8 Hero and a Level 9 Empress."
"Since then, the Black Dragon has been in control of the Dungeon, using its power to slowly recover. But no matter how much it tries, those wings are gone for good. That’s why it hates Adventurers so much. Just seeing one makes it want to tear them apart."
"Still, even grounded, the Black Dragon is no pushover. Its hide is so tough that even first-rate weapons struggle to leave a scratch. Its scales are incredibly durable and even offer special resistance against magic. Powerful spells can barely hurt it—unless they target its wounds. And to make things worse, it has self-regeneration. If the damage isn’t from a curse-type weapon, it can heal within just a few breaths."
Just hearing all this was enough for Bell to grasp how hopeless the situation was. They were up against a monster with overwhelming strength, a massive health pool, and instant regeneration. Unless they could vastly outpower it, even throwing their lives at it might not be enough. Yet, defeating the Black Dragon was a challenge they couldn’t avoid—it was a dead end.
But in Bell’s eyes, this situation was already expected. If the Black Dragon were easy to defeat, Zeus and Hera’s Familia wouldn’t have been wiped out. Its overall strength was probably around Level 10. Against such a world-threatening threat, a single person’s power was far too little. ’At the very least, I’ll need to rally other Familia to join the fight,’ Bell concluded almost imdiately.
As for whether he could actually defeat the Black Dragon, Bell didn’t want to think too hard about it. Even if they were his counterparts, being the sa person in different worlds didn’t an they had the sa power or thoughts. He had no intention of letting anyone know how he planned to face the Black Dragon. He could also tell that his otherworldly counterparts didn’t have a system. So perhaps—he was the turning point.
"What about Loki’s Familia and Freya’s Familia?"
"They joined as well, but in the end, they just repeated the mistakes of the past."
’Myself’ didn’t elaborate on the outco, but Bell could already guess. If the Familia that set out to slay the Black Dragon ended up making the sa mistakes as Zeus’s and Hera’s Familia, then it could only an complete annihilation.
"I see."
Taking down the Black Dragon was never going to be easy. Total annihilation was practically expected. Still, Bell couldn’t imagine who else could possibly rise up after even Freya’s and Loki’s Familia had failed. But that wasn’t sothing he needed to think about right now. At least for the mont, he didn’t have the ti to dwell on it.
"One last question. You’re not the only ones across all the parallel worlds, right?"
’Myself’ and Bell Cranel fell into an unsettling silence. Bell gave a slight shake of his head. He had expected as much. Even across supposedly "infinite" parallel worlds, their counterparts had been brought to this point—it made the odds of defeating the Black Dragon seem vanishingly small.
"Let’s move on to the magic topic. I know everything I need to know. From here on, leave it to . If I fail, it ans the world falls into ruin, and we’re finished. But I don’t plan on dying young."
Bell had never intended to go down so easily. He wasn’t so hero driven by a desire for power, nor did he care about being one. All he wanted was his own ’freedom’—not this fate that shackled him. Especially after "fate" had shown him those crushing chains and the endless abyss, the fire of resistance in Bell’s heart only grew stronger.
’Myself’ let out a silent sigh. All of them across the worlds shared the sa feelings—fear in the face of despair, and refusal to bow to fate. Maybe it was because those feelings were too strong that the cycle, which should have repeated endlessly, had begun to unravel. He could only offer his blessings to the Bell of this world. This was likely the last ti he’d say these words.
"Do your best. Even if we lose everything, there’s nothing to fear. We had nothing to begin with."
A flicker of ’disappointnt’ passed through Bell’s eyes. Nothing to fear? No way. It was precisely because they had nothing before that they now feared losing everything. Because they had finally found sothing worth holding onto. They never started with nothing—what they feared most was losing it all.
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