How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game Chapter 692: Frozen Trials 5
Previously on How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game...
This location... such a magnificent chamber?
Upon being shifted to this spot, Snow immediately sensed it.
The second challenge.
No announcement from a voice was required.
Letters didn't shimmer in the atmosphere.
Simply the alteration in the ambiance revealed all. The underground labyrinth had advanced her onward.
Challenges within labyrinths invariably transformed per floor.
The environment, the intensity, the guidelines — they warped sufficiently to unsettle those attempting them.
Yet under every variation, a common thread persisted.
A central motif. A principle concealed amid the turmoil.
The initial challenge had featured a glacial wilderness.
An eternal blizzard.
Piercing gales. Snowy heavens that obliterated bearings and chronology. It led her to assume the objective involved endurance.
Withstand the chill. Seek refuge.
Break free from the tempest.
Yet that proved incorrect.
The solution had been her very self.
Her command.
Her supremacy above the ice and freeze.
The barren expanse wasn't an adversary. Rather, it belonged to her to rule.
Now, this setup...
This opulent, lavish chamber differed vastly from the prior challenge.
Golden lanterns suspended warmly from an elevated roof etched with refined designs.
Frost-kissed marble surfaces extended broadly under her footwear, buffed to a shine that mirrored her dim outline.
Wide stairways arched skyward on either flank, converging at an upper-level ledge that surveyed the whole space.
It appeared costly. Noble. Nearly imperial.
Excessively flawless.
’I can’t tell how many challenges remain...’
That idea hovered silently in her thoughts.
Every stage might prove erratic. Should she persist in conventional reasoning, she could overlook the true resolution once more.
This labyrinth evidently didn't favor direct approaches.
She needed to reason unconventionally.
Irregularly.
Her gaze drifted gradually over the chamber.
An extravagant main hall...
Broad steps ascending to an observation platform...
Each element displayed impeccable balance.
A pair of stairways.
A pair of column lines.
A pair of extended panes — despite no illumination passing through.
The lanterns themselves were positioned with eerie exactness.
It resembled less a residence... and more an exhibit.
An artificial platform.
"Am I trapped within a lavish estate?"
A logical supposition.
Assuming entrances existed.
But none did.
No portals lining the barriers.
No passages extending away.
The steps ascended solely — and even from the base, she discerned the ledge linked to naught further.
The whole area was confined.
Shut tight.
Akin to an ornate enclosure.
Snow advanced with deliberate slowness.
Her boot's echo resounded softly off the marble, propagating beyond expectation in a space of this scale.
Excessively still.
Excessively vacant.
The opening challenge had examined her rule over the freeze and chill.
Should this area mirror that essence... what precisely did it evaluate?
Her stare sharpened a touch.
Opulence. Equilibrium. Display.
Not persistence.
Not fortitude.
Another aspect.
Her digits quivered subtly as frosty vapor swirled about her flesh.
Similar to the prior challenge, no beasts lurked.
No concealed entity observed from the obscurity.
She detected no life within this domain.
That fact provided some comfort.
Should foes inhabit here, they avoided raw power.
Snow proceeded through the chamber, her strides firm, vision keen.
The hush trailed her akin to an extra shade.
At length, she halted.
Before her loomed an elliptical icy fixture.
Initially, discerning the true nature of objects here proved difficult.
All formed from ice — barriers, supports, balustrades, even ornamental sculptures.
The intricacies softened by rime, borders mildly indistinct. Fixtures merged seamlessly into the framework.
Yet this particular one...
This form rang familiar.
It marked the initial sight nearly each dawn.
Beyond Riley.
Beyond the girls.
"A mirror?"
Its face veiled in rime, obscured by pallor. It merely echoed her dimly — a hazy contour of fair locks and gentle azure.
She approached nearer.
Her digits extended and grazed the face.
The rime encircling it receded mildly under her contact.
ZSHHH!!!
A piercing noise resounded as an entity stirred below the face.
Mana.
Subtle, yet present.
Snow’s stare intensified faintly.
"Unfreeze."
The rime enveloping the mirror commenced gradual dissolution — not to liquid, but to vapor.
The ice diminished stratum by stratum, yielding to her dominion.
Briefly, she pondered issuing the identical order to the full chamber.
Yet that would prove unwise.
The edifice consisted of ice. Compelling it to thaw would merely collapse the roof upon her.
Thus, she concentrated solely on the mirror.
Icy vapor ascended into the atmosphere, dispersing.
And then—
Her image sharpened.
Ivory tresses tumbling beyond her shoulders.
Flawless azure orbs.
Silken, impeccable complexion.
Even amid this peculiar challenge, clad in a basic white coat and unadorned garb, she appeared poised. Grand. Unaffected by the labyrinth's strain.
Icy allure encased in serene assurance.
As ever.
Then it caught her eye.
Pale azure mana amassed near the mirror's borders, crafting slender luminous streaks along the border.
Intrigued, Snow pressed her palm evenly to the pane.
The face undulated.
Similar to rippled liquid.
The image warped — elongating, curving — before an object emerged from beyond.
It glided into her grasp.
She blinked once.
"A letter?"
A precisely closed missive lay in her palm.
She glanced back at the mirror.
It reverted to ordinary.
Merely her image gazing back.
The pale mana encircling the border pulsed dimly prior to gradually vanishing.
Stillness resumed.
Snow directed her attention to the missive in her hold.
Why deliver a letter?
The opening challenge had assessed her mastery of rime.
It remained straightforward, severe, and evident in purpose.
But this instance?
An opulent chamber.
A mirror.
A letter.
What precisely did this labyrinth demand from her?
Momentarily, vexation welled in her core. Not dread. Not worry.
Merely frustration.
Attempting complete comprehension of the uncontrollable merely exhausted one.
She had grasped that ages past.
Excessive rumination on every obscurity merely muddled decisions.
Thus, she released a gentle breath.
Composed.
She carefully removed the slender rime binding the missive.
The ice detached akin to sealant, fracturing delicately beneath her digits. Within lay a precisely creased document.
She unfolded it.
Snow recited it audibly, her tone firm in the vacant chamber.
She examined the text once more.
Evaluating my allure... and my spirit?
Her brows furrowed mildly.
What manner of challenge was this intended to be?
"So... do you accept?"
"—!"
The tone emerged directly ahead.
Recognizable.
Excessively so.
Snow’s head jerked upward.
Her orbs expanded.
The mirror.
Her image no longer echoed her precisely.
It grinned.
She did not.
The form within the pane mimicked her stance. Identical ivory locks. Identical azure orbs. Identical bearing.
Yet the countenance—
It arched distinctively.
It was whimsical.
Entertained.
"Who are you...?" Snow inquired softly.
The image inclined its head marginally, imitating her gestures — yet delayed by an instant. Intentional.
"Hm~ discovering that would ruin the enjoyment," it responded. "And fulfilling your own inquisitions falls to you, not me~"
The tone closely matched hers.
Identical pitch. Identical gentleness.
But a subtle inflection marked it. A mocking sharpness Snow avoided. A cordiality alien to her frosty essence.
It resembled hearing herself... via a warped filter.
The image pressed nearer to the pane from its side.
"You perused the missive," it went on, grin broadening. "Your allure faces trial. Your spirit endures judgment."
Its azure orbs sparkled.
"Should you falter... they become mine."
Snow’s hold on the missive firmed subtly.
"They?" she queried evenly.
The image’s grin intensified.
"Oh my... thus you do cherish."
For an instant, the mirror’s face undulated anew, warping the form within.
The atmosphere encircling Snow thickened faintly.
"Your cherished companions...."
it murmured.
"You~"
The image tittered lightly.
It lacked volume.
Sufficient to resonate within Snow’s mind.
Though Snow’s visage stayed serene — frosty, inscrutable — the entity in the mirror evidently perceived beyond the surface.
it grinned, propping its chin gently on the pane’s face.
"Now, will you embrace the judgment, oh lovely one~? Demonstrate you can surmount this challenge."
"......"
Snow’s musings hazed momentarily.
Queries abounded excessively.
What constituted the judgment precisely?
Which guidelines governed it?
What defined defeat?
What implied claiming "them"?
Yet ultimately, such inquiries held no weight.
This marked a labyrinth challenge.
Grasping all in advance never formed the ordeal’s core.
She breathed out gradually.
"I accept."
"Fufu~ Excellent."
The image’s grin expanded.
Snap.
The crack of digits snapping reverberated with unnatural volume.
And the realm transformed.
The frozen chamber fractured akin to brittle crystal. Rime stripped from the barriers, hues seeping into being.
The chilled marble beneath her soles altered, heat diffusing across it.
Illumination.
Tones.
Cacophony.
The quiet fragmented.
Ere Snow could wholly assimilate it—
"You let go of the princess, you wretched creep!"
Slap!
Agony burst along her cheek.
Her sight slanted as her form toppled off equilibrium and struck the earth firmly.
Cling!
Cling!
The keen ring of blades drawn enveloped her.
Chilled metal bore against her neck.
Snow blinked, bewildered.
Warriors.
Plated warriors encircled her, weapons bared, gazes brimming with antagonism.
Their countenances displayed revulsion. Fury.
As though she had perpetrated an inexcusable deed.
Her pulse faltered.
Then she peered forward—
And her respiration hitched.
Positioned before her...
Stood her own likeness.
Ivory locks.
Azure orbs.
Matching stature. Matching features.
Yet attired in regal splendor.
Graceful.
Polished.
A drifting robe of ivory and argent.
A petite gemmed coronet perched atop her crown.
She regarded Snow — the Snow prostrated on the soil — with a tender look.
Compassion.
"What?" Snow whispered beneath her breath.
"This wretched witch doesn’t even realize her actions. Seize her at once—" one of the warriors snarled.
"Wait."
The tone sliced keenly.
"But Your Highness—"
"It’s fine, Sir Kenneth,"
the other Snow stated mildly.
"I am fine. She only wished to interact with me."
The warrior leader appeared skeptical.
His mandible clenched.
But beneath the princess’s steady regard, he hesitantly dipped his blade a fraction.
"...As you command."
The edges lingered near.
Still menacing.
Then—
The princess advanced.
Snow observed in dazed quiet as the alternate her proffered a hand her way.
"Are you okay, miss?"
the princess queried tenderly.
"I hope my guards haven’t caused permanent harm to your face."
Her tone.
It matched Snow’s tone.
Yet warmer.
More compassionate.
Approachable.
Snow sensed her digits quiver faintly.
She lifted her gaze.
Within those azure orbs — orbs mirroring hers — she beheld her own echo.
But the visage returning her stare proved unfamiliar.