[Location: The Carnival of Despair - Hall of Mirrors]
[Time: 06:15 PM]
[Stream Viewers: 150,000+]
The entrance to the tent had vanished.
Ryan and his team were standing in an endless corridor made of glass.
Floor, ceiling, walls—everything was a mirror.
There were thousands of reflections of Ryan, Grog, and Annabelle stretching into infinity.
"I hate this," Grog whimpered, covering his eyes. "Too many Grogs. Grog is confused."
Ryan looked at his reflection. He fixed his hair.
"I don't know, Grog. I think the view is great. Look how handsome I am."
He aimed the camera at the mirrors.
"Chat, this is what we call 'Narcissist Heaven'. Or a nightmare if you haven't showered."
User_Slayer69: "Ryan, focus! Mirror Mazes in dungeons usually steal your soul!"
User_RichKid: "Don't look into your own eyes for too long!"
Suddenly, the lights flickered and turned blood-red.
Buzz... Buzz...
The reflections in the mirrors stopped moving.
Ryan raised his hand. His reflection kept its hand down.
Grog turned around. His reflection stayed staring at him.
[System Warning: Mental Intrusion Detected.]
[The Mirrors are projecting your 'Inner Demons'.]
Grog screamed. In the mirror, he didn't see himself as a powerful Demon. He saw a tiny, weak goblin being stepped on by his father.
"Father! I'm sorry! I'm strong!" Grog fell to his knees, crying.
Annabelle hissed. In her mirror, she saw herself back in the toy factory, broken and discarded in a trash bin.
"I'm not trash! I'm not!" She started stabbing the glass violently. Clink! Clink! But the glass wouldn't break.
Ryan looked at his own reflection.
The 'Mirror Ryan' smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. It was twisted.
The Mirror Ryan spoke.
"You are a fraud, Ryan," the reflection whispered.
"You don't care about your sister. You only care about money. You are just a greedy scammer using dead people for views. If Sarah knew the truth... she would hate you."
The chat went silent.
This was a heavy psychological attack. It targeted the one thing Ryan actually cared about—his sister.
Real Ryan stared at Mirror Ryan.
He was silent for a long moment.
The atmosphere grew tense.
Was Ryan going to break? Was he going to cry?
Then, Ryan sighed.
"Is that it?"
The Mirror Ryan blinked. "What?"
"I thought you were going to show me something scary," Ryan rolled his eyes. "Like... my bank account hitting zero. Or losing my internet connection."
Ryan stepped closer to the glass.
"Of course I'm greedy. Being poor sucks. And Sarah? She knows I'm a scumbag. She loves me anyway because I pay for the premium cable TV."
[System Notification: Host's shamelessness has blocked the mental attack.]
[The Mirror Ghost is confused.]
"Now," Ryan raised his left wrist. The black smartwatch [Pandora] pulsed with blue light.
"You made my roommates cry. That's annoying."
"Pandora... Form Change: Sledgehammer."
CLICK-CLACK-WOOSH.
The black metal watch liquefied, expanding instantly. In a split second, it transformed into a massive, jet-black sledgehammer engraved with blue runes.
The Mirror Ryan's eyes widened. "Wait! You can't break the Cursed Glass! It reflects damage!"
"Felix!" Ryan shouted. "Come here!"
Felix, who was curled up in a ball trying to hide, looked up. "Me?"
"Yes. Walk towards that mirror."
Felix trembled. "But... it's scary."
"Just walk!"
Felix took three nervous steps.
Squeak.
He stepped on his own shoelace.
He flailed his arms. "Whoa!"
He fell forward.
In his hand, he was holding a heavy flashlight.
As he fell, the flashlight flew out of his hand.
It spun in the air.
And hit the exact tiny crack in the corner of the mirror that held the structural integrity of the entire wall.
CRACK.
The magical reinforcement of the mirror shattered due to [Aura of Misfortune].
The reflection protection failed.
"NOW!" Ryan swung Pandora.
"HAMMER TIME!"
KABOOOOM!
Ryan smashed the main mirror.
It didn't just break; it exploded.
Thousands of shards flew everywhere.
The scream of a ghost echoed through the hall.
"MY FACE! YOU BROKE MY FACE!"
Black smoke poured out of the broken mirror, forming into a lanky, faceless spirit covered in shards of glass.
[Enemy: The Mirror Stalker (Level 25)]
"Grog! Wake up! It's smashing time!" Ryan yelled.
Grog snapped out of his nightmare. He saw the monster. He saw his Boss holding a giant hammer.
"GROG HATE MIRRORS!"
Grog charged, using his shield to bash the spirit.
Annabelle leaped off the walls, slashing the spirit's legs.
Ryan spun the sledgehammer like a tornado.
SMASH!
With one final hit from Pandora, the Mirror Stalker burst into dust.
[Ding! Defeated The Mirror Stalker.]
[Fear Points: +2,500]
[Level Up: 8 -> 9]
The illusion of the infinite hallway shattered.
The glass walls fell away.
They were standing in a large, circular circus tent.
In the center of the tent stood a throne made of balloons and bones.
And sitting on the throne was The Jester.
He wore a colorful clown suit, but his skin was grey, and his teeth were filed into points.
He clapped slowly.
Honk. Honk.
"Bravo!" The Jester's voice sounded like a rusty saw. "You broke my mirrors. But can you survive the Fun House?"
Ryan rested his massive hammer on his shoulder.
He looked at the Jester.
"Hey, Bozo," Ryan smirked at the camera. "If I beat you, do I get the balloons?"
[System Quest Updated: The Carnival of Despair.]
[Boss: The Jester (Fear Eater).]
[Objective: Beat him at his own games.]
The Jester laughed, and the lights went out.
"Let the games begin!"