Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Swamp of Despair
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About five minutes earlier.
Su-ho entered the Square and made his way through the neatly organized interior to reach the entrance portal.
Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped into the portal.
[ Entering the Gate. ]
[ Loading Gate information. ]
[ Swamp of Despair ]
- Entry conditions: Anyone.
- Maximum entrants: No limit.
Simple entry information that couldn't be more straightforward.
With no level restrictions or entry limits, this place had claimed more casualties than even the Nameless Sword.
No one knew why.
Not a single person who entered had ever returned alive.
‘The current Swamp of Despair is a place where no one knows if return is possible or what lies inside.’
However, Su-ho knew exactly what was in this place and what kind of place it was.
That's why he could enter without a second thought.
As soon as he entered the Gate, the surrounding scenery shifted in an instant, revealing the interior of a massive cave.
Ahead of him stood a huge staircase leading straight upward, and at its end was a door emitting a brilliant light.
The identity of that door was none other than the ‘exit’ leading outside.
In simple terms, entering it cleared the Gate.
‘But no one has ever conquered this place.’
Su-ho averted his gaze from the brilliantly shining escape door and looked down at the stairs unfolding below.
And he could see them.
The bizarre stone statues positioned at various points along the stairs.
They reminded him of guardian stones, but Su-ho knew their true nature.
‘Those aren’t mere sculptures. They’re all the people who challenged the Swamp of Despair.’
There were no monsters in the Swamp of Despair.
More precisely, the long staircase stretching before his eyes to the exit portal was the Gate’s trial.
Stairs of Despair.
Those who knew its true nature called it that.
‘Each step you take implants endless fear and despair into the challengers through mental traps. It’s a truly terrifying staircase.’
Thus, the only way to conquer this place was to possess a powerful mental protection skill or related item.
‘At minimum, S-Rank.’
That’s why it was called the Swamp of Despair.
Like a swamp, one wrong step leads to endless sinking until you’re buried and die.
The petrified figures had all met that fate.
Those ensnared by the Stairs of Despair felt such profound emotional despair that they couldn’t take a single step forward.
‘Well, it’s useless against me anyway.’
Su-ho stepped onto the first stair without a care.
Then.
Shuaa!
It felt like a sudden thud, as if falling off a cliff.
[ You have stepped on the Stairs of Despair. ]
[ Deep despair descends upon you. ]
As expected, the stairs’ despair began to erode Su-ho.
At that moment.
[ Dragon Blood activates. ]
[ Dragon Armor’s Dragon Tolerance effect prevents mental corruption. ]
Su-ho smirked as he read the system notification windows.
Yeah.
I have Dragon Blood.
The absolute immunity skill that grants immunity to any mental debuff, ‘Dragon Blood.’
Having seen the notification, Su-ho took another step up the stairs.
[ You have stepped on the Stairs of Despair. ]
[ Deep despair descends upon you. ]
[ Dragon Blood activates. ]
[ Dragon Armor’s Dragon Tolerance effect prevents mental corruption. ]
The same notifications.
The next stair.
And the one after that too.
Su-ho ascended the stairs as lightly as someone out for a stroll.
Along the way, he saw countless stone statues, and beside the stairs were other petrified corpses pushed aside to avoid obstructing passage.
But that only lasted until the midpoint.
In the latter half of the stairs, there wasn’t even a speck of stone rubble to be seen.
The intensity of despair grew stronger with each step upward, so no one had ever reached this far.
But Su-ho was different.
Even as he walked and walked to finally reach the last stair.
[ You have stepped on the Stairs of Despair. ]
[ Deep despair descends upon you. ]
[ Dragon Blood activates. ]
[ Dragon Armor’s Dragon Tolerance effect prevents mental corruption. ]
He still enjoyed the full protection of Dragon Blood, safeguarding his mind completely.
Before stepping into the exit portal, Su-ho turned back one last time to look at the petrified people.
‘Sorry I couldn’t take you all with me.’
Su-ho knew who was the first to conquer this place.
It was a martial artist player known by the epithet ‘Executor,’ a man with powerful mental immunity traits who, astonishingly, cleared it over hundreds of days.
‘He said that each step he took required battling the despair that assaulted him.’
That’s why it took hundreds of days.
Having conquered it over that span, he pitied the victims here and tried to carry out even their stone statues.
If possible, to take them outside and have healers treat them.
However, those petrified in this place crumbled into sand at the slightest touch.
So in the end, he had no choice but to leave alone without saving anyone.
That’s why Su-ho didn’t dare touch them.
Instead, he clasped his hands together and prayed for their peace.
‘You’ve all suffered greatly.’
It was the moment he passed the final stair and reached the top where the escape door stood.
[ The Gate has been conquered. ]
[ The MVP of the Gate conquest is ‘An Su-ho.’ ]
[ Additional experience granted for MVP selection. ]
[ 1 bonus stat granted for MVP selection. ]
[ You have successfully solo-conquered a Gate that no one has ever cleared. ]
[ For this tremendous achievement, the system gifts you 5 bonus stats. ]
[ Level up. ]
[ All stats increase by 1. ]
[ You have acquired 1 bonus stat. ]
The moment he arrived at the portal, a flood of system notifications announced the Gate’s conquest.
At the same time, his level rose by one, and various bonus stats were granted.
There were no names of defeated monsters.
There were no monsters here to begin with.
Yet due to the inherent difficulty, it granted massive experience even without a single monster, raising his level by one.
However, what Su-ho wanted was still to come.
Then.
[ Special reward granted to the MVP of the Gate conquest. ]
[ You have acquired the Ring of Joys and Sorrows. ]
Su-ho smiled only then upon seeing the notification.
Yeah.
The reason I came here.
The Swamp of Despair was the sealed Gate easiest for the current Su-ho to conquer, but it was also because of the item obtainable only here.
Su-ho checked the information on the acquired ring.
[ Ring of Joys and Sorrows (喜怒哀樂) ]
- Grade: S
# Treasure obtainable only in the Swamp of Despair.
# When worn, the wearer can see the target’s strongest emotional state distinguished by color.
# The Ring of Joys and Sorrows can extract and store White (positive energy) and Black (negative energy) from the target’s strongest emotion, and bestow the stored energy on another target. Duration is unknown.
The S-Grade item, Ring of Joys and Sorrows.
The treasure once held by the Executor.
With it, he not only endlessly developed himself but also saved countless people suffering from emotions.
‘With this, you can control the emotions of humans, animals, monsters—any being at will.’
That’s why it was ultimately taken by villains.
The Ring of Joys and Sorrows could be a vaccine depending on use, but also a vicious poison or horrific tool for terror.
Thus, Su-ho believed he absolutely needed the Ring of Joys and Sorrows.
At least with it on him, villains wouldn’t take it.
Having finished checking the information, Su-ho slipped it onto his finger.
The ring shrank to fit perfectly like it was made for him, then turned transparent and ultimately vanished completely, untouchable even by hand.
Su-ho, now wearing the ring, turned and bowed at the waist.
Then he reached out to the final stair he had stepped on.
[ You have stepped on the Stairs of Despair. ]
[ Deep despair descends upon you. ]
[ Dragon Blood activates. ]
[ Dragon Armor’s Dragon Tolerance effect prevents mental corruption. ]
First came the stair’s mental corruption attempt, blocked by Dragon Blood.
Next.
[ The Ring of Joys and Sorrows reacts to the target’s strongest emotion. ]
[ Will you absorb emotion from the target? ]
[ Absorbable emotion is ‘Black.’ ]
The Ring of Joys and Sorrows reacted.
Su-ho accepted the system’s query.
Then.
[ Absorbing emotion from the target. ]
Shuaa!
The item effect activated, and a murky energy from the blackened stair was sucked into Su-ho’s hand.
The ring stored the maximum capacity of Black energy.
Of course, the stair remained pitch black.
Extracting a bit of energy wouldn’t purify it.
‘Time to head out.’
With the Ring of Joys and Sorrows and max Black energy in hand, Su-ho could finally step out of the portal.
***
Su-ho checked the time upon exiting.
Less than five minutes had passed on his watch.
‘This record... not just in Korea, but worldwide, makes me the fastest to clear an S-Grade Gate.’
It’d probably make the Guinness records.
Su-ho waved at the cameras, and soon the Square door opened, revealing the excited crowd.
“Su-ho!”
“Pro Su-ho!!”
Jeong Cheol-min and Jo Jin-hwi rushed over first.
They looked overjoyed, as if they’d found wild ginseng, while the PR Team Leader and Square Manager stared in shock like they’d seen a ghost.
But one thing they had in common: the emotional auras emanating from them were all white, signifying positivity.
Jeong Cheol-min and Jo Jin-hwi clamored.
“How is a person like this even possible, Su-ho? 4 minutes 17 seconds! You cleared a sealed Gate in a whopping 4 minutes 17 seconds!”
“This is a world record! We need to run this as a solo feature right now!”
“What’s the secret? This place is designated more dangerous than Nameless Sword—how did you...!”
Su-ho calmed their barrage of questions, then approached the PR Team Leader and Square Manager.
“As you saw, this place is completely cleared.”
“Y-Yes! We were watching live via the camera feed.”
“Then, could we take a photo together?”
“Pardon?”
“For proof.”
The Square Manager blinked blankly at Su-ho’s request before nodding eagerly.
“Ah, yes! Of course!”
“Then, PR Team Leader, if you would.”
“Yes, got it!”
At Su-ho’s request, the PR Team Leader snapped to attention and grabbed the camera.
And just like with the Nameless Sword Gate, Su-ho secured solid proof photos this time too.