From the moment I was chosen by the holy relic

The flames continued to burn, illuminating their profiles.

"Don't you feel," Eric suddenly spoke up, "that this illusion isn't just a trial, it's more like it's waiting for us to expose our weaknesses. Or rather, waiting for us to break down on our own?"

"I had a feeling about this," Leah replied softly. "The first floor showed me the scenery of my hometown, and the second floor showed me the library I knew best. The scenes were too gentle, too beautiful. It wasn't until I realized what was happening that they became eerie. The illusion is alive; it observes you and then strikes."

The two were talking in hushed tones when suddenly—

The earth trembled as if struck by a giant's fist. Then, a deafening roar echoed from afar, like ice shattering or rocks collapsing. Immediately afterward, a howl that ripped through the sky reverberated across the vast snowfield, carrying an indescribable ferocity and pain that pierced to the very marrow of the soul.

Eric jerked his head up, his hand instinctively gripping the hilt of his sword. Leah also abruptly stood up, her gaze searching for something in the misty snowstorm.

The surroundings fell silent in an instant, as if even the wind held its breath, leaving only the distant and ferocious roar echoing in the air.

Leah gently bit her lip and turned to look at Eric.

"It seems there are more than just the two of us in this illusion," she said softly, her words carried by her breath, which was instantly swallowed by the wind and snow.

Eric squinted and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

The snow over there seemed to be churning, as if some enormous creature was struggling and tearing itself apart.

He didn't answer immediately, but pondered for a moment. He could feel the power within his body slowly returning to its original state. Although it was far from its peak, at least he was no longer the weak person who could barely stand.

"My strength has almost recovered." Eric paused, his eyes flashing with a faint light, like cold iron suddenly cooled in fire. "In that case, let's go take a look. More people mean a higher chance of winning."

Without another word, Lia carefully tucked the fire bottle into her bosom, gently extinguishing the flames that had escaped, leaving only a faint warmth within her clothes. They stood side by side, heading towards the direction from which the roar had come.

The snow was soft yet heavy, and with each step felt like an invisible hand tugging at their ankles. But Eric remained silent, steadily and resolutely moving forward. Leah followed closely beside him, occasionally glancing around warily in the shadows swept by the wind.

As they continued their journey, the snow fog grew even thicker.

At first, it only blurred my vision, but now it's so thick that I can almost touch those lingering, icy strands in the air. With each breath, it feels like I'm inhaling ice and snow into my lungs, and even my heart feels heavy from the cold.

Eric squinted, lowered his body, and carefully moved forward on the snow. The sounds around him grew louder and louder, no longer just a faint rumble from afar, but a deafening roar and the muffled thud of a giant object crushing the snow, as if a sleeping mountain had suddenly awakened before him.

Leah followed closely beside him, her hand gripping her wand tightly, her fingertips already white from the cold, but she did not back down in the slightest.

Finally, they passed through the last thick, wall-like fog.

The scene before my eyes was astonishing.

It was a towering, terrifying yeti, covered in fur, its white fur interspersed with streaks of icy blue.

Its back was bulging, its arms were as thick as the roots of an old tree, and its claws seemed to be carved from ice, gleaming with a chilling light. It was wildly waving its giant hands, trying to capture a nimble young girl.

The girl wore a silver-blue cloak, her golden hair shimmering with a soft sheen like fine snowflakes in the winter morning light. She held a blue staff, her movements light and swift, like a swallow dancing in a storm. Every time the Yeti swung its claws, she narrowly dodged, her footsteps leaving a series of tiny, rapid footprints on the icy plain in a dazzling rhythm.

However, Eric soon noticed something was amiss.

"She's just dodging," Eric said in a low voice, his brow furrowed.

Leah noticed it too. She looked at the girl with a serious expression and added, "And she didn't fight back at all."

The Yeti roared, occasionally spitting out streaks of snow-white ice—its breath, each one enough to shatter a stone wall. But the girl nimbly sidestepped, rolled, and leaped, dodging all the attacks like a gust of wind.

However, as time went on, Eric could clearly see that the blonde girl's movements were gradually slowing down. Her cloak was torn in several places, her boots were broken, revealing her pale calves, her breathing became rapid, and the pauses after each dodge were getting longer and longer.

"She's almost out of energy," Eric said through gritted teeth in a low voice.

Lia glanced at him sideways, her brows furrowed with worry and hesitation.

"What should we do?" she asked, her voice so low as if afraid of disturbing something.

Eric didn't answer immediately. A conflict crossed his mind: how much of this illusion was real? Was the girl a real person, or a trap deliberately set by the illusion? But in that instant, he saw the girl fall, stumble, and kneel heavily into the snow, her staff almost flying out of her hand.

The Yeti let out a deafening roar, opened its blood-red maw, and pounced down!

Eric didn't hesitate any longer. He nodded to Leah, a silent understanding flowing between them.

Lia immediately understood. She did not act rashly, but took a half step back, raised her staff, and quickly drew a small healing mark in the air with her fingers. She chanted a short support spell in a low voice, and a silver light quietly enveloped Eric's back, casting a small vitality protection spell on him to ensure that he could have a certain degree of wound healing and physical recovery during the battle.

Eric, however, had already shot off like an arrow.

He sprinted so fast that before the footprints in the snow had fully spread, he was already behind the Yeti. His sword flashed coldly through the night and snowstorm, its sharp edge like lightning, aimed directly at the giant beast's vulnerable knee tendon.

Caught off guard, the Yeti was deeply pierced by the sword tip and let out a deafening roar of pain.

Eric drew his sword and leaped back, as agile as a cheetah in the forest, easily dodging the Yeti's instinctive swipe of its massive claws. The heavy, hammer-like attack whistled past the edge of his armor, kicking up a flurry of snow, but it didn't even touch the corner of his cloak.

"Too slow," Eric thought to himself.

He paused for a moment, calmly observing the yeti's movements. The monster was enormous and sluggish, its attacks almost entirely haphazard, driven only by instinctive roars and swings. Though powerful, it lacked any finesse. Compared to the Frost Wolves and Bone Beasts he had encountered on the northern ice plains, this yeti was like a puppet out of control.

All of this was too easy, so easy that it made him feel uneasy.

But Eric did not let his guard down.

He attacked again, circling around to the Yeti's flank. The monster was turning to pounce on him, its massive claws crushing down with wind pressure, but Eric had already anticipated the trajectory. He dodged to the side, gliding past the monster's belly at lightning speed, his longsword sweeping across in the process.

A deep gash appeared on the yeti's waist and abdomen, so deep that the bone was visible.

The Yeti let out a painful howl, its movements became even slower, and the faint, fierce light in its eyes seemed to flicker in the wind, about to be extinguished.

Eric gave it no chance to catch its breath.

Taking advantage of the Yeti's momentary bent-over and clutching its belly, he leaped into the air, gripped his sword with both hands, and plunged it fiercely into the Yeti's exposed throat, the vital spot of all creatures, whether mortal beasts or monsters.

The sword sank inch by inch into the thick flesh and blood.

The Yeti stiffened abruptly, letting out a suppressed and broken wail. Its massive body finally gave way, collapsing heavily onto the snow, sending up a huge cloud of snow.

The entire snowfield returned to deathly silence, with only the low, mournful howls of the wind and snow remaining.

Eric landed steadily, took a deep breath, and slowly drew his sword. Blood dripped from the tip of the sword, blooming into a bright red flower on the snow.

In the distance, Lia cautiously approached, her staff still gleaming with a soft, gentle light. She blinked, a hint of half-joking teasing in her voice:

"So fast? I thought it would at least take until I could use my restoration spell."

Eric chuckled softly, lowered his head to clean the bloodstains from the blade, but a sense of unease rose in his heart.

It's so easy.

This battle didn't evoke the familiar sense of danger and tension in him; instead, it felt like a pre-arranged performance.

Eric's gaze narrowed slightly as he warily scanned the surrounding snowfield, but apart from the Yeti's enormous corpse and the biting cold wind, there was nothing else.

Eric's gaze fell on the girl.

In the initial blur and snow, he could only make out a soft golden light, like snow melting in the morning light. But as he approached, the face in the wind gradually became clearer: slender features, a slightly pale but stubborn expression, maple-leaf-colored eyes, and golden hair that looked as if it had been solidified by sunlight.

Eric was stunned.

That's Eileen.

It was the face he had recalled countless times by the firelight, in his dreams, and during lulls in battle.

"Eileen..." he murmured almost silently, his voice like a wisp of smoke squeezed from the depths of his chest.

At the same time, Leah clearly recognized the face.

Her eyes lit up, and without thinking, she exclaimed excitedly like a child, "Eileen! What are you doing here?!"

She lifted her skirt-like cloak and ran quickly toward the girl, as if she were about to run into the arms of an old friend.

But the warning amulet on Eric's chest continued to vibrate silently.

It was a magical artifact meticulously crafted from Northern Silver Fir and Morning Star Crystal, which would only respond when extremely dangerous and imperceptible hostility appeared.

It did not stop.

And the vibrations became even more rapid, as if an invisible hand was anxiously tugging at Eric's heart.

Eric's heart tightened, and almost instinctively, he roared at the top of his lungs, "Leah! Get away from her! She's not Eileen!"

Lia paused, stunned, and swayed slightly as she turned back to look at him in surprise.

Amidst the snow, only the howling wind could be heard, as if the entire world had frozen in that moment.

Leah frowned and shouted back, "Eric, are you crazy?! I saw it clearly, it's Irene! How could this be—"

Eric strode forward, shielding Leah as he spoke quickly in a low voice, his tone unusually calm and ruthless:

"Listen to me, Leah. Think about it calmly."

His voice was short and forceful, each word distinct and clear, like an icicle piercing through the wind and snow.

"First, the Yeti was very weak. I killed it with almost no effort. With Eileen's strength, she could never have ended up in such a sorry state."

He stared into Leah's eyes to make sure she was listening.

"Secondly, the warning amulet is still vibrating. If the source of danger is the Yeti, the amulet should stop vibrating after the Yeti dies. But it hasn't; instead, it's vibrating even more violently."

Leah's eyes widened, her fingers trembling slightly as she gripped her staff.

Eric continued, speaking slightly faster, as if trying to explain clearly before some impending change occurred:

"Third, and most importantly, Eileen is currently missing. If she were still alive, she would definitely come looking for us instead of participating in the Thousand Faces Illusion alone."

His voice slowed, yet it was filled with a resolute yet sorrowful strength.

"And she doesn't look at me with that empty gaze, and she doesn't stand there motionless, like she's waiting for her prey to come closer."

Leah gasped and turned around abruptly.

"Eileen" remained standing in the same spot, her amber eyes fixed on them, like a statue. Even her breathing was still; her cloak fluttered in the wind, yet she seemed utterly lifeless.

Leah's heart sank. All her excitement and joy, like ice cracking, collapsed with a snap.

"I...I almost..." she murmured to herself, her face turning deathly pale.

Eric didn't waste any more words. He slowly drew his longsword, the tip slightly lowered, but his gaze remained firmly fixed on the person disguised as Eileen.

Amidst the wind and snow, the atmosphere grew heavy and somber.

The fake Eileen seemed to realize that her disguise had been exposed, and a strange smile appeared on her lips.

That was a smile that Eileen would never have.

Cunning, ruthless, and bloodthirsty.

Moments later, her body began to writhe violently, her skin cracked, her cloak ripped, and her bones made strange cracking sounds, as if they were being crushed and reshaped by an invisible hand.

In the blink of an eye, the familiar figure vanished without a trace, replaced by a tall, thin, and bizarre creature, emaciated as a rake, with arms that extended to its knees, fingertips sharp as knives, and curved bone spurs growing on its back, as if a nightmare born from ice and snow.

Its mouth split open to its ears, revealing a mouthful of jagged fangs.

Eric squinted, recalling what Abu had once told him when explaining the illusion monsters: these were the most troublesome monsters.

"Phantom Demon!"

Leah gritted her teeth and asked urgently, "What do we do?"

Eric smirked, raised his sword to his chest, and said in a deep voice, "What else can we do? Since it's trying to lure us in, let it know that prey can also bite back."