NOVEL NEXT Chapter 40
Chapter 40
About five minutes before.
Suho entered the square, making his way through the neatly organized interior until he reached the portal at the entrance.
And without a moment’s hesitation, he stepped into the portal.
[Entering the Gate.]
[Loading Gate information.]
[Swamp of Despair]
– Entry Condition: Open to all.
– Maximum Participants: Unlimited.
The entry information was as simple as it could get.
There were no level restrictions, no limit on the number of entrants, yet this place had claimed more lives than even the Nameless Sword.
The reason was unknown.
Because, up to now, not a single person had ever returned alive from here.
‘The Swamp of Despair—no one knows if it’s a place where return is possible or what kind of existence lies within.’
However, Suho knew what was here, and he knew exactly what kind of place this was.
That knowledge allowed him to enter without any hesitation.
The moment he entered the gate, his surroundings shifted, revealing the interior of a vast cavern.
Before him, a massive staircase leading straight upward came into view, and at the top, a door radiating a brilliant light.
That door was none other than the ‘exit’ leading outside.
Simply put, entering that door meant clearing the gate.
‘But until now, no one has been able to conquer this place.’
Suho dropped his gaze from the radiant exit door and looked at the staircase that stretched below it.
And he saw them.
Oddly shaped statues scattered across the steps.
They resembled the statues of lamentation, and Suho recognized their true nature.
‘These aren’t mere sculptures. These were once people who challenged the Swamp of Despair.’
There were no monsters in the Swamp of Despair.
Or rather, to be precise, the long staircase leading to the portal was the gate’s trial.
The Stairway of Despair.
Those who knew its true form called it by that name.
‘A terrifying staircase where each step brings a relentless sense of fear and despair upon the soul.’
The only way to conquer this place was to possess a powerful mental protection skill or a related item.
‘And it must be at least S-grade.’
Thus, the name Swamp of Despair came to be.
One wrong step, and you would sink deeper and deeper until you were submerged entirely.
Those turned to stone met such a fate for that reason.
Those trapped on the Stairway of Despair would feel such profound emotional despair that they couldn’t move even a single step.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter to me.’
Without a care, Suho stepped onto the first stair.
And then—
Swoosh!
In an instant, he felt as if he were falling off a cliff.
[You have stepped on the Stairway of Despair.]
[A deep despair casts over you.]
As expected, the despair of the staircase began to encroach upon Suho.
At that moment—
[Dragon Blood is activated.]
[Due to the Dragon Armor’s Dragon Endurance effect, mental contamination does not occur.]
Seeing the system notification, Suho smirked.
Yes.
He had Dragon Blood.
An absolute immunity skill, ‘Dragon Blood,’ that granted him resistance to all mental debuffs.
Suho took another step forward after reading the notification.
[You have stepped on the Stairway of Despair.]
[A deep despair casts over you.]
[Dragon Blood is activated.]
[Due to the Dragon Armor’s Dragon Endurance effect, mental contamination does not occur.]
The same notification.
And the next step.
And the one after that was no different.
Suho climbed the stairs lightly, as if he were on a leisurely stroll.
Along the way, he saw numerous statues, and to the side of the staircase, he noticed other stone figures that had been pushed aside so as not to obstruct the path.
However, that was only until the midpoint.
From the latter half of the stairs onward, there were no statues, not even a pebble.
The Stairway of Despair intensified its sense of despair with each step, and no one had ever reached this point.
But Suho was different.
Step after step, Suho continued walking until he finally reached the last step.
[You have stepped on the Stairway of Despair.]
[A deep despair casts over you.]
[Dragon Blood is activated.]
[Due to the Dragon Armor’s Dragon Endurance effect, mental contamination does not occur.]
Under the protection of Dragon Blood, Suho was able to preserve his sanity completely.
Before stepping onto the exit portal, Suho turned back one last time to look at the people who had been turned into statues.
‘I’m sorry. I couldn’t bring you all with me.’
Suho knew the identity of the person who first conquered this place.
That man, known by the alias ‘The Ascetic,’ was a martial artist player with a powerful mental immunity trait.
Astonishingly, he conquered this place over the course of several hundred days.
‘He fought against the despair that attacked him each time he took a step.’
That was why it took him hundreds of days.
Because he had fought his way through over hundreds of days, in the end, he felt compassion for the victims here and tried to carry away the statues to recover their bodies.
If possible, he would have taken them outside to be treated by healers.
However, the people who had turned into statues here would crumble into dust at the slightest touch.
So, in the end, he could only leave alone, unable to save anyone.
Thus, Suho didn’t dare to touch them.
Instead, he clasped his hands together and offered his condolences for their souls.
“Thank you for all the hardship you endured.”
Just as he passed the final stair and reached the shining exit door, it happened.
[Gate conquered.]
[The MVP of the gate conquest is ‘Ahn Suho.’]
[Additional experience points are awarded for being selected as MVP.]
[One bonus stat is awarded for MVP selection.]
[You have successfully conquered a gate that no one else could tackle alone.]
[For this remarkable achievement, the system awards you 5 bonus stats.]
[Level up.]
[All stats have increased by 1.]
[You have gained 1 bonus stat.]
The moment he arrived at the portal, the system notifications announcing the gate’s conquest poured in.
Simultaneously, his level increased, and he received various bonus stats.
There was no mention of a defeated monster.
After all, there were no monsters here from the start.
Yet, due to the inherent difficulty of the place, even without any monsters, the vast experience points given led to a level increase.
However, what Suho truly wanted hadn’t appeared yet.
Then it happened.
[A special reward is being given to the MVP of the gate conquest.]
[You have acquired the Ring of Emotions.]
Seeing the notification, Suho finally smiled.
Yes.
The reason he had come here.
The Swamp of Despair was not only the easiest sealed gate for the current Suho to conquer, but also held an item that could only be obtained here.
Suho checked the information on the ring he had obtained.
[Ring of Emotions]
– Grade: S
# A treasure that can only be obtained in the Swamp of Despair.
# When equipped, the Ring of Emotions allows the wearer to see the most intense emotion a target emits, distinguished by color.
# The ring can extract and store positive (White) and negative (Black) energy from a target’s most intense emotions, allowing the stored energy to be transferred to another target. The duration of the effect is unknown.
The S-rank item, the Ring of Emotions.
In the past, it was a treasure held by the Ascetic.
Not only did he use it to achieve endless self-improvement, but he also saved countless people struggling with their emotions.
‘With this, one can control the emotions of any being—human, animal, or monster.’
For that reason, he eventually had it stolen by villains.
Depending on its use, the Ring of Emotions could become a healing remedy or a highly toxic venom, even a terrifying tool for terrorism.
Thus, Suho knew he absolutely had to possess the Ring of Emotions.
At the very least, if he had it, there would be no chance for it to fall into the villains’ hands.
After confirming the information, Suho put the ring on his finger.
The ring immediately shrank to fit him perfectly, turning transparent before disappearing entirely from view—even to the touch.
With the ring on his finger, Suho turned and bowed his head.
Then, he reached his hand toward the last step he had climbed.
[You have stepped on the Stairway of Despair.]
[A deep despair casts over you.]
[Dragon Blood is activated.]
[Due to the Dragon Armor’s Dragon Endurance effect, mental contamination does not occur.]
First, the stairs attempted mental contamination, which Dragon Blood blocked.
Then—
[The Ring of Emotions responds to the target’s most intense emotion.]
[Would you like to absorb the emotion from the target?]
[The absorbable emotion is ‘Black.’]
The Ring of Emotions reacted.
Suho accepted the system’s prompt.
Then—
[Absorbing emotion from the target.]
Swoosh!
As the item’s effect activated, a murky energy was drawn into Suho’s hand from the dark stair.
With that, the maximum capacity of Black energy that the ring could store was filled.
Of course, the stair remained as dark as ever.
Extracting a bit of energy wasn’t nearly enough to purify the stair.
‘Time to get going.’
With the Ring of Emotions and its maximum Black energy in his possession, Suho finally exited through the portal.
***
Upon emerging outside, Suho checked the time.
He glanced at his watch; less than five minutes had passed.
‘With this time record, within the country… no, worldwide, I’m probably the fastest to clear an S-rank gate.’
It was likely record-worthy for the Guinness World Records.
Suho waved at the camera, and soon the door of the square opened, revealing a crowd of people buzzing with excitement.
“Suho!”
“Mr. Ahn!”
Jung Chulmin and Jo Jin-hwi were the first to rush forward.
Both of them looked as if they had found a rare ginseng root, overflowing with joy, while the head of the PR team and the square manager were so stunned it was as if they had seen a ghost.
The common factor among them was that their auras all shone in a positive white, representing favorable emotions.
Jung Chulmin and Jo Jin-hwi exclaimed as they fussed over Suho.
“Mr. Suho, how is it possible for a person to be like this? Four minutes and seventeen seconds! You cleared the sealed gate in just four minutes and seventeen seconds!”
“This is a world record! This should be reported as an exclusive story immediately!”
“What’s your secret? This place is designated as more dangerous than the Nameless Sword, yet how did you manage it…!”
As the flood of questions came, Suho gestured for them to calm down, then approached the PR head and the square manager.
“As you saw, the gate has been fully conquered.”
“Ah, yes! We were watching in real-time through the camera feed.”
“Then, would you mind taking a photo with me?”
“Huh?”
“I need proof of completion.”
At Suho’s request, the square manager momentarily looked dazed but then quickly nodded.
“Oh, of course! Certainly!”
“Then, PR head, if you would please.”
“Yes, understood!”
At Suho’s request, the PR head, having finally regained his composure, took up the camera.
And, just as with the Nameless Sword gate, Suho was once again able to leave definitive proof with a photograph.