Igor has been so good to me.

At the moment when his eardrums were shattered by the Mental Scream, Ashe suddenly had this thought. When he tried to charge forward, he found that the continuous Mental Scream also had a repelling effect. Unable to use spellforce or spirits, it was extremely difficult for him to even get close!

Appearing before Ashe and the other was a black-clad figure who closely resembled Igor. To distinguish him from the original, let’s call him Phantom Rust Crow.

After Phantom Rust Crow unleashed the Mental Scream to seize the initiative, he actually pulled out two handguns from his chest. When the gun barrels were aimed at him, an intense fear, like a wild beast, tore at Ashe’s heart, causing his body to stiffen, sweat to pour down, and his legs to go weak!

Being a seasoned sorcerer in the Virtual Realm, Ashe would not be so easily unnerved by the mere sight of gun barrels. This was Phantom Rust Crow’s Miracle, amplifying Ashe’s fear through the event of “being aimed at by a gun,” causing hormonal secretions to affect Ashe’s control over his body!

Bang! Bang!

Ashe timely swung his weapon to deflect the bullets. Observer didn’t even block, simply tilting his head to dodge the bullets, then rapidly running and leaping along the wall, attempting to breach Phantom Rust Crow’s alert zone!

Instead of retreating, Phantom Rust Crow charged forward, firing at Observer.

Seeing this, the lingering fear in Ashe’s heart once again surged and boiled-it was the ‘Fearless’ spirit! Igor had once mentioned to Ashe that if the Fearless spirit was paired with his Fear Miracle, it could ignite the fear in others’ hearts when he appeared fearless!

In addition, Phantom Rust Crow opened his mouth again, unleashing a second Mental Scream!

But Ashe and Observer’s eardrums had already been destroyed by the first Mental Scream. Would this Miracle still be effective?

Of course, it would.

A Mental Miracle is not such an inconvenient thing.

In fact, it was even more terrifying-as long as the memory of the Mental Scream lingered in Ashe and Observer’s minds, when Phantom Rust Crow made this gesture, it could directly trigger a second scream!

That’s right, Phantom Rust Crow didn’t actually cast this Miracle; he merely mimicked the mouth movement, and the memory, like a potent poison, infected the minds of Ashe and Observer, shaking their very souls!

Ashe had never truly been Igor’s enemy before, so he had never had the chance to enjoy the double scream!

At this moment, the Miracle Phantom Rust Crow was truly casting was the “Boiling Blood,” which enhanced courage!

Target: Observer.

Effect: Will not evade any attack, actively confronts all difficulties!

Mental Miracles have no distinction between strengthening or weakening effects; it all depends on how the mental sorcerer utilizes them.

Stunned by the false Mental Scream and fueled by boiling blood, Observer was almost rendered a helpless target against the barrage of bullets from Phantom Rust Crow!

However, Observer recovered from the scream almost instantly. His twin swords moved like a Rain Curtain, not only deflecting all the bullets but also executing a Perfect Counterattack, sending one bullet back to strike Phantom Rust Crow’s left wrist!

Phantom Rust Crow released his left hand and retreated swiftly, his right hand aiming at Ashe, who was charging in for an opportunity. As the gunshot rang out, Ashe didn’t block but instead ducked low to evade, then thrust his sword toward Phantom Rust Crow!

The third Mental Scream erupted. Though Ashe had already developed immunity, the scream itself could repel objects at a certain distance-only those within the scream’s core were immune to the repelling effect!

Ashe was naturally pushed back, but in the brief moment Phantom Rust Crow shifted his attention to him, Observer had already breached the Phantom’s alert zone, and then-

Whoosh!

A flash of sword light swept by, and a fountain of blood spurted. A headless corpse crumpled to the ground, the golden-haired head rolling to a stop beside Ashe.

From the corpse, two flames emerged, flying into Ashe and Observer, instantly healing all their injuries and replenishing their stamina, even filling their stomachs with a sense of fullness.

Ashe sat on the ground, breathing shallowly, then stood up and exhaled a heavy breath. Without even glancing at the remains on the ground, he asked, “What’s going on here?”

“You already have your judgment. Why do you need me to give you an answer?” Observer wiped the blood off his sword with the fabric of his elbow and sheathed it.

“Because I hope you can give me a different answer,” Ashe said. “So I can know I’m just a fool who got it wrong.”

“Our next Trial targets are likely Copies selected from your memories,” Observer said, showing no regard for Ashe’s fragile feelings. “Igor Bukin, Archibald Harvey, Gerard Wessminster, Annan Dolan, Banjeet Dolan, Freya Hoyle, and… the Sword Princess, the Witch, Vesser.”

“…That’s too much.”

“They’re just Copies, not the originals,” Observer said, kicking the headless corpse. “They only use the Miracle abilities you’ve seen before.”

“Don’t do that,” Ashe said seriously. “And it’s not just me. It’s us.”

Observer’s expression remained impassive as he pulled down his Mask and spat out a mouthful of blood. Ashe glanced at him. “Did you bite your tongue earlier?”

“Intense pain can break most Mental Miracles,” Observer explained. “It’s an instinct even a silver-level practitioner of the Mental Sect can master.”

“But we’re not even silver sorcerers yet,” Ashe sighed. “Is there an option to give up on this Trial? We can’t use spellforce, yet we have to fight against full-fledged sorcerers?”

“The damage intensity of the Trial enemies should be suppressed within the level of a One-Winged Sorcerer,” Observer said. “If it were a two-wings Mental Scream, the kinetic repulsion alone would shatter our ribs.”

“But even a One-Winged Sorcerer is-“

Observer ignored his chatter, adjusted his equipment, and continued forward. Ashe hurried to catch up, complaining, “Others aside, but Sword Princess, Witch, Annan-“

“No matter how powerful the Trial left by the Gray Fox Divine Era is, it can’t surpass the strength of a prime Gospel deity,” Observer said calmly. “Even Gospel couldn’t peek into your Virtual Realm situation, so the Trial shouldn’t be able to replicate your operators either.”

“But there’s also Bewitcher and the Young Lady…” Ashe said. “Could you really raise a hand against them?”

Observer didn’t respond, just glanced at him.

Ashe was left to worry alone about how to face them, but soon he cheered up, clenched his fist, and said, “The two of us, mere mortals without using spellforce, actually defeated a mental sorcerer using only melee weapons! We’re so strong!”

“But this Trial is too sinister. Why not throw some disgusting monsters at us as Trial enemies? That way, we could hack away with a clear conscience. Why does it have to replicate from our memories?”

“Speaking of which, those appearance-altering artifacts in the cosmetic section, could they be prepared for this?” Ashe suddenly realized. “If I dress up like others, it could reduce the psychological pressure of killing acquaintances?”

Observer calmly said, “Changes in appearance can lead to changes in personality. Uniforms, combat attire, and such all have this effect. This is an intuition that even a silver-level Mental Sect sorcerer can grasp.”

“But as long as you can see through the illusions, you don’t need these external aids.”

“I’m not Silver Lantern, who treats everything as a delusion,” Ashe said. “Speaking of which, Silver Lantern would probably have no psychological burden at all going through this Trial, right?”

“Doesn’t it feel like they’ve crawled out of hell to seek revenge on you?”

Vesser wiped the blood from her face and picked up the fox mask from the ground. Though she didn’t have the delusion spirit to conceal her appearance, she was now dressed in flamboyant attire with her hair dyed purple. Even Raven Annihilation would struggle to see through her disguise.

“I’m starting to wonder if you’re my opposite or my mirror image,” she said. “What’s the fun in mocking me, Yolan?”

“Can’t I be your complement?” Yolan laughed, her outfit identical to Vesser’s, save for slight differences in color. “You’re still plagued by doubt, while I have no hesitation at all.”

Yolan was Vesser’s Fate Twin. But Vesser couldn’t quite figure out if she was her complement, opposite, or mirror. Sometimes, Yolan shared the same thoughts as Vesser; other times, she took pleasure in taunting her. And she had casually claimed the codename “Yolan” as if it were hers.

If anything, Vesser felt she resembled the avatar of the Mirror Dragon from not long ago.

“I don’t have any hesitation either,” Vesser said, forcefully kicking aside the corpse on the ground. “If I could kill them once, I can kill them again.”

“But this isn’t the reunion you were hoping for, is it?” Yolan said. “You were hoping that in the Virtual Realm, those who died by your hand would sincerely thank you for your kindness, and those who misunderstood you would genuinely appreciate your greatness… You were really looking forward to strangers applauding you.”

“Especially him.” Yolan glanced at the corpse on the ground. “He admired you so much, adored you, was willing to share the maze with you, to share the Vortex Secret Toxin. And what did you repay him with? Cold-blooded death, just because-“

“Just because hoarding spoils would bring the wrath of the Tribulation Fire Temple, and I’d be implicated; just because the fewer people infected by the Vortex Secret Toxin, the better; just because I needed an opportunity to enter the Temple’s sight,” Vesser said calmly. “Don’t tell me, after all this time, you think I care about that?”

“Of course not. I brought it up because, back then, you actually considered finding companions,” Yolan said. “It’s too hard to persevere alone.”

“No one would understand me. Everyone’s gone mad, content to drown in delusions rather than look up at the night sky. My only mercy was to free them from it,” Vesser said. “But perhaps this situation is about to change.”

The two women continued down the passageway. Vesser glanced at her wristwatch. Aside from the 21-minute countdown, her Trial count had risen to 3. With one Trial every 30 minutes, it meant they had been in the passageway for over 90 minutes.

Suddenly, the countdown stopped. Vesser looked up and saw they had reached the end of the passageway, where a radiant light door awaited.

When they stepped through the light door, they found themselves in another underground hall.

However, they weren’t the first visitors here.

In the brief moment it took for their eyes to adjust to the change in light, two figures in the center of the hall rushed toward them!

Vesser immediately stepped back, only to find her back pressed against a cold, hard wall. She never expected that, despite being the first to enter the Trial path and possessing the silver dragon blood that granted her formidable strength even without spellforce, her overall progress would lag behind those who came after her.

She watched Ashe charging toward her, her heart neither sad nor glad.

Yolan, on the other hand, looked at Observer rushing toward her and playfully winked at him.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay