Chapter 291: Chapter 291: The River of Souls [1]

Leon stood at the edge of the river while staring silently into the endless void before him.

And despite everything he had already experienced since entering [Eternal Ascension], despite the gods, the monsters, the impossible powers and worlds that ignored all logic, this was still one of the most absurd and incomprehensible things he had ever witnessed in his entire life.

The river stretched infinitely through absolute nothingness, flowing through a space that seemed detached from reality itself, where there was neither light nor darkness, neither sky nor ground, and yet somehow the river still continued endlessly forward as though the very concept of distance had lost all meaning here.

There was no visible source to it, no destination, no beginning or end, and the longer Leon stared at it, the more he instinctively understood something terrifying deep inside his mind: no matter how long someone walked through this place, no matter how powerful they became, they would never truly reach the end of the river.

It did not feel endless in a normal sense, but endless in a way that mortal minds were never meant to comprehend.

Even the substance composing it made no sense whatsoever.

It was not water, or at least Leon was almost certain it wasn’t, because the surface constantly shifted between liquid and solid while faint ripples moved across it in unnatural patterns, making it feel as though the river itself was changing forms every second into something that could not properly be described using normal words.

And simply staring at it for too long made Leon’s head ache painfully.

Far in the distance, Leon could see gigantic chains descending from above before piercing directly into the river itself, each chain larger than mountains and glowing faintly with strange divine light while disappearing infinitely upward into the void.

They looked ancient beyond comprehension, older than civilizations, older than worlds, perhaps even older than the gods themselves.

And for the first time in a very long while, Leon genuinely felt small compared to something so massive and ancient that his existence barely seemed worth acknowledging beside it.

Then the familiar notification panels appeared before him.

Ding!

[Walk the path that every entity, god and celestial takes, and break your limits.]

[The further you proceed, and the more you endure, the stronger your soul will become.]

[There is no failure. The only way to stop is to give up.]

Leon silently read the words while narrowing his eyes slightly, trying to understand what exactly this place wanted from him.

But unsurprisingly, the system offered no further explanations whatsoever before the panels disappeared only a few seconds later, leaving him completely alone once again in the middle of the endless void.

"...Well," Leon muttered quietly while exhaling through his nose, "I guess there’s nothing to do except move forward."

There really wasn’t any other option anyway.

One thing was clear: if every god had once walked this path, then Leon also needed to walk it if he truly intended to stand above them someday.

"Alright then."

Leon took a slow breath before stepping forward.

The moment his foot touched the river’s surface, faint ripples spread beneath him, distorting the strange substance slightly, and just as he expected, he didn’t sink despite the river clearly behaving like liquid.

His foot rested naturally on top of it while the surface still shifted fluidly beneath him at the same time, creating an incredibly strange sensation that Leon honestly stopped trying to understand.

But the moment he fully stepped into the [River of Souls], he immediately noticed something else: pressure.

At first it was incredibly small, so small that Leon almost ignored it entirely, but after standing there for a few seconds, he realized the sensation wasn’t acting only on his body.

The pressure was pressing directly against his soul.

Leon frowned slightly before taking another step forward, and almost immediately, the pressure increased ever so slightly.

Then another step. And another increase.

"So that’s how this place works."

Leon began walking forward calmly while observing his surroundings carefully, and as he moved deeper into the river, the pressure continued increasing little by little with every step he took.

At first it barely mattered. Then it became noticeable. Then uncomfortable.

And all of that happened within only a short distance.

Sweat slowly appeared on Leon’s forehead as he realized the truly terrifying part of this challenge: the pressure did not increase violently or suddenly spike upward to crush him instantly, instead steadily becoming heavier with every single step forward as though the river intended to eventually overwhelm anyone who entered it no matter how resilient they were.

’So this is what it meant by enduring.’

Fwoosh!

Without wasting any more time, Leon burst forward into a run, his footsteps echoing softly across the river’s surface while ripples exploded beneath his feet one after another.

If the pressure continued increasing the longer he remained here, then slowly walking around and wasting time would only make things harder for himself.

He needed to advance as far as possible before the burden became unbearable. And so Leon ran.

The first massive chain in the distance slowly grew larger while the invisible pressure pressing against his soul continued intensifying with every meter he crossed.

Yet even then, he continued running forward without slowing down.

Eventually, after what felt like several minutes, Leon finally reached the first gigantic chain.

Thump!

He stopped briefly beside it while breathing slightly heavier than before, and now that he was standing close to it, the chain looked even more absurdly massive than before because each individual link was larger than entire buildings.

Leon tilted his head upward, trying to see where the chain led, but it disappeared endlessly into the void above him.

He looked downward as well. Still nothing. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The chain simply continued infinitely in both directions.

Leon even reached out and touched it curiously, but aside from a freezing sensation crawling across his fingertips, he felt absolutely nothing else.

"...Weird."

Still, there was no point standing around.

Leon immediately turned toward the second chain visible far in the distance before continuing forward once more.

The pressure continued increasing steadily, endlessly heavier with every single step.

Soon enough, Leon realized running was becoming difficult because no matter how much strength he used, his movements gradually slowed as though invisible mountains were being stacked onto his shoulders one after another.

Eventually, continuing to run became impossible entirely, forcing Leon to slow down into a walk while his breathing gradually became more uneven.

His eyes moved toward the third chain visible in the distance. And Leon simply continued moving.

The pressure grew stronger and stronger while an intense headache slowly formed inside his mind, and by the time he reached the third chain, warm blood had already begun dripping from his nose.

Leon wiped it absentmindedly before glancing at the blood staining his fingers.

"Seriously?"

But he didn’t stop. Not even for a second.

He simply continued walking forward while the invisible burden crushing his soul continued increasing relentlessly, passing dozens, or perhaps hundreds, of chains.

Eventually, Leon stopped treating the chains as milestones entirely because there were simply too many of them now.

Blood eventually started dripping from his mouth as well. Then his ears. Then finally his eyes.

His vision slowly became blurry while every movement started feeling unbearably heavy, as though his very existence was being crushed under the weight of something ancient and incomprehensible.

Yet even then, Leon continued moving forward.

At some point, he started thinking about other things just to distract himself from the pain crushing his soul.

He thought about Violet. About Godrick. About Oasis and Alicar. Then Alice. Then Celeste.

Faces slowly appeared inside his mind one after another while he continued forcing himself through the endless river.

But eventually, even those thoughts became blurry.

The pressure had become so overwhelming that Leon could barely think clearly anymore, and the only thing remaining inside his mind was the instinct to continue moving forward no matter what.

The river stretched infinitely ahead as though mocking him, constantly reminding him that no matter how hard he struggled, he would never truly reach the end.