The Calm Before the Storm

(Samuel's POV)

I rubbed my temples, the weight of memories I couldn't shake pressing down on me. Bardot, that bitch, was like a cancer in my mind—everything she did to the original Samuel was unforgivable, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to kill her.

But there was something else we needed to focus on. The Black Hollow Dungeon.

I let out a deep sigh, trying to shake off the anger clouding my mind. Looking over at Henry, I decided it was time to focus on the task at hand.

"Tell me about this Black Hollow Dungeon," I said, my voice calmer but still tinged with frustration.

Henry glanced at me, his expression unreadable for a moment. Then, he nodded, as if he'd been waiting for me to ask.

"The Black Hollow Dungeon is one of the most mysterious and dangerous places in Eastern Europe," he started, his tone serious. "It's not on any maps, not officially recognized. It's an old, abandoned city, a place lost to time—underground in every sense. People say it's a labyrinth of horrors, traps, and unseen creatures."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds like the perfect place to level up."

Henry smirked slightly, though there was a sharp edge to his expression.

"That's the thing, Samuel. The dungeon is unpredictable. No one who's gone in has ever returned, and no one has even made it past the first level. They say the deeper you go, the stronger the monsters become, and the time distortion is worse than anything we've seen. A minute inside could feel like days, or even weeks."

I let that sink in for a moment. A dungeon that played with time, where the deeper you went, the more deadly it became.

"Sounds like we'll be facing more than just monsters," I muttered, cracking my neck.

Henry nodded, his gaze focused, as though he were already picturing the dungeon in his mind.

"Exactly. The biggest threat is the core. The dungeon has one, but it's a living thing, not like anything we've encountered before. If it's still intact, we have to deal with that."

I clenched my fists, feeling the power of my Abyssal Gauntlets surging in my veins.

"A living core, huh? Sounds like it'll be a challenge."

Henry's grin widened.

"It's not just a challenge, Samuel. It's a test. It's meant to push us to the edge, see if we can survive. And if we can conquer it, we might find something much more valuable than any loot or treasure. The Black Hollow Dungeon is rumored to hold a power beyond anything we've ever seen."

I felt the weight of his words.

"A power beyond anything we've seen?" I repeated, intrigued.

Henry nodded.

"Some say the dungeon was created to contain something ancient, something so dangerous that even the gods couldn't control it. If we're smart and we beat it, we'll have more power than we can imagine. But if we fail…"

He didn't finish the sentence, but the implication was clear. Failure meant more than just death. It meant being consumed by whatever dark force lay at the heart of the Black Hollow.

I stood up straight, my gaze steely.

"We're not failing. Let's make sure we survive and get to that power. Whatever it is."

Henry's smirk turned into a wry grin.

"That's the Samuel I know. Alright, let's get ready. We'll need every ounce of power we've got if we want to face this."

I nodded, the fire in me igniting once more.

"Let's go find out what this dungeon holds. And when we do, we'll be unstoppable."

The Forgotten Abyss was behind us, and the Black Hollow Dungeon was ahead, but right now, we found ourselves caught between our past lives and our new reality.

I took a deep sip of my whiskey before looking at Henry with a smirk.

"About that Katerina Maa—you really humiliated her in a way no one else could've imagined. I mean, changing your identity from Henry Hans to Liberty just so you could abandon her like a bitch?"

Henry's smirk grew darker, his golden eyes gleaming with amusement.

"What did you expect?" he said casually. "A cheating bitch like her, who let her own assistant fuck her, isn't even worth my time."

I chuckled, shaking my head.

"And yet, she still probably cries herself to sleep over you."

Henry scoffed, running a hand through his hair.

"The funniest part?" he continued, his voice dripping with amusement. "At least she tried to hide it from me. She played the perfect wife, acted like she was still devoted to me. But her assistant, Oberan, that dumbass, used to send me videos of them having wild sex."

I nearly spat out my drink.

"Wait, wait. Hold up." I looked at him in disbelief. "You're telling me her assistant was sending you the videos of him screwing her?"

Henry nodded, letting out a short laugh.

"Yep. Like a damn trophy collection. Guess he thought I'd be too broken to do anything about it."

I let out a low whistle.

"Damn. That's beyond disrespectful."

Henry's smirk faded slightly, his expression turning more thoughtful.

"The original Henry—the one from the novel? Yeah, he broke down when he saw those videos. It destroyed him. He had everything, and in one moment, it was all gone. His career, his love, his future. So he made a choice."

I already knew the story, but I let him continue.

"He erased himself," Henry said, his voice quieter now. "He changed his entire identity, became Liberty, and disappeared into Norway. That was supposed to be the end of the story."

I exhaled, nodding slowly.

"Yeah… I remember." I smirked slightly. "You transmigrated into the end of that novel, while I got thrown into the beginning of my trashy one."

Henry chuckled, shaking his head.

"Yeah. But too bad for Bardot. Because the one person who hated her the most—the Heavenly Demon himself—was the one who transmigrated into Samuel Gebb."

He leaned back, grinning.

"And the way you took revenge after faking your death? Priceless. You didn't just ruin her—you made her a widow."

I grinned, taking another sip of my drink.

"Damn right I did. And the best part? She still doesn't know what's coming next."

Henry smirked, raising his glass.

"To cheating bitches getting exactly what they deserve."

I clinked my glass against his, taking another long drink.

Whatever awaited us in Black Hollow, one thing was certain—we were no longer the men who had been betrayed.

We were the ones rewriting the rules.