Danmachi: Is It Wrong to Be the Main Character in Orario?-Chapter 782: That Is Hope!
Standing up, Bell slowly walked to the front of the "Wall of Lamentation."
The massive gate looked solid and unyielding, yet when Bell pressed his palm against it, it shifted with a light push.
"Creak!"
It opened just enough for him to hunch down and slip through.
"Is this supposed to be an invitation?"
In truth, Bell had no way to back out. Since the door had opened, he might as well go in and see what waited inside.
He drew a deep breath, tightened his abdomen to make himself narrower, held his breath, and squeezed through the gap.
The moment he stepped inside, a loud thud sounded behind him as the gate slammed shut.
Bell glanced back at the fully closed door, his expression helpless.
"I don’t even know whose inner soul this is, but even I don’t get any courtesy here."
Muttering to himself, he continued deeper past the threshold.
Everything inside was drowned in darkness. Bell couldn’t see anything at all.
’Was more than just my strength stripped away?’
He shook his head lightly. There was no point dwelling on it. He simply headed straight forward.
He couldn’t see, but he could still feel.
After walking a short distance, his fingers brushed against a wall.
So cold.
The icy chill shot straight from his fingertips into his nerves, a biting cold that felt like it could freeze his very soul.
But with no way to tell which direction was correct, Bell could only keep going, hand on the wall.
After following the wall for a while, he realized it suddenly ended. Feeling ahead, he found a corner and another wall he could continue along.
As long as this passage led somewhere real and not in circles, moving forward would prevent him from looping endlessly.
He kept one hand on the wall and advanced.
He didn’t know how much time passed, but after several turns Bell could clearly sense he had walked a long distance, yet there was still no end in sight.
It was like an endless abyss of darkness.
Even so, Bell felt no panic. He’d been an adventurer long enough for his heart to be tempered; this much wouldn’t frighten him.
Darkness and the abyss were some of humanity’s oldest fears.
"So, this wants me to face that fear directly?"
Bell smiled.
Fear was not easy to overcome. It was the instinctive dread of the unknown darkness.
But he knew that at times like this, the only choice was to push through.
He gave the wall a gentle push, then let go, stepping into the space where the wall no longer reached.
He couldn’t sense anything—not with his mind, not with his body.
This was the inner layer of his soul, a sealed world, the deepest part of himself. Even here, he was little more than an ordinary person without perception.
But there was no need to fear.
Yes—no need to fear.
He had promised Freya he would return before tomorrow. He definitely wouldn’t linger here.
Just keep moving. Don’t be afraid.
And that was exactly what Bell did.
Eyes open, steps steady, he moved forward without slowing, his mind analyzing the nature of the darkness.
His Authority was useless here, but the knowledge that came with Authority still remained.
’This darkness is different from ordinary darkness.’
’It feels like it wants to consume everything completely. Even light can’t escape its grasp. No power can function here.’
’It’s like every form of strength has been stripped away.’
’To move forward through darkness, you must bring forth light within it.’
That much was obvious.
But without Authority, without even a trace of magic power—could he really illuminate this darkness?
Impossible.
Bell immediately rejected the idea. There was no way to brighten this place.
He could sense he didn’t have that kind of power. In fact, he had a strange feeling that even if he still had his magic and Authority, this darkness still wouldn’t yield even slightly.
This darkness could stain even the soul pitch black—far beyond what normal power could achieve.
So... was this blackness something more than just darkness?
He couldn’t be sure. He hadn’t encountered anything except the darkness itself.
But when he thought of darkness, he naturally thought of light.
And when he thought of light, the first thing that came to mind was that white power he had once wielded.
"Whoosh!"
A burst of white light appeared.
Yes—that light...!?
Bell nodded instinctively when he saw the white glow, then suddenly froze like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
His head stiffly lowered, and that was when he noticed a faint white radiance surrounding his body.
His mind filled with question marks.
He had no idea where this light came from. He didn’t have even the slightest control over it.
"So, what exactly is this power...?"
[This is hope.]
A voice he didn’t recognize echoed from the darkness.
As the voice spoke, the darkness slowly receded, revealing the scene it had concealed all along.
A long staircase stretched endlessly forward. There were no walls, no handrails—just steps suspended above an infinite abyss. One misstep would send him plummeting into the void below.
And he stood at the center of that staircase.
[Come.]
Bell didn’t respond. He simply kept climbing upward.
So that darkness really had been a test. But what did it test?
Most likely the white light glowing around him.
It wasn’t the "self-discipline" Bell had once assumed. The voice had named it "hope."
Bell truly didn’t understand any of this. His mind was still full of questions. Everything happening now was clearly beyond his comprehension.
He kept silent, continuing up the staircase toward the heavens.
He didn’t know how long it would take to reach the end, but he was sure he would keep his promise to Freya. He should make it back before tomorrow.
Thinking that, Bell took action.
His goal: to sort out what he needed to understand.
And then—return before tomorrow.
...
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