> "Laughter is the last scream of the hopeless."
---
The portal opened in silence, but what lay beyond screamed.
A swirling spiral of red and violet light led them into a landscape where the laws of joy and terror were mangled into a grotesque joke. The sky above was cotton-candy pink—but beneath it, rusted carnival rides turned endlessly on their own, shrieking from corrosion. Carousels spun with skeletal horses. Balloons drifted overhead, leaking what looked like bloodied laughter.
A massive clown face stood as the entrance gate, mouth wide open.
> [Welcome to World #6 – Carnival of Ruin]
Genre: Horror/Deception
Tier: 3 – Level 4
Time Limit: 8 days
Main Objective: Survive and find the "Heart of the Ringmaster"
Optional Objectives: Save the Souls Trapped in Laughter (6 total)
Warning: Sanity Damage Possible. Insanity Points Active.
---
First Trial – The Parade of Masks
As the group entered, the gate slammed shut behind them with a metallic roar. A parade of twisted clowns began moving through the central path—some dragging chains, some juggling body parts, and others simply crying.
Each wore a porcelain mask. One clown broke from the line and approached them slowly. Its mask was blank, but its eyes burned red.
> "To stay, you must play."
> [System Alert: Mask Binding Test Initiated]
Six masks floated toward the group—each glowing with different colors.
Blue Mask – "Truth Seeker"
Green Mask – "Fool's Luck"
Red Mask – "Blood Dancer"
White Mask – "Silent Witness"
Purple Mask – "Mad Prophet"
Black Mask – "Sorrow Eater"
> "Only one per person," the system echoed. "Removing the mask early will cause irreversible sanity damage."
Jayce grabbed the Green Mask without hesitation. "I call dibs on chaos."
Lian hesitated, then picked the Blue Mask. He needed clarity more than anything.
Boom chose the Red Mask. "Fitting."
Astra silently picked the Black Mask.
Melia… chose the Purple.
No one picked the White.
> [Binding Initiated. Effects will be active until the Ringmaster is defeated.]
---
The Laughter Labyrinth
The world twisted as soon as the masks bonded.
The ground melted, reformed, and the team found themselves in a corridor of mirrors—each reflecting distorted versions of themselves. Some laughed. Some cried. Some bled.
Then the lights dimmed, and the battle began.
From every mirror, twisted clones emerged—each one powered by the wearer's deepest emotional fractures.
Lian faced a version of himself where he let everyone die to survive.
Melia's version giggled while puppeteering rot-infected children.
Boom's version had Astra's head mounted on his fists.
Jayce's wore a smile but had no mouth.
Astra's... had no reflection at all.
> "You fight your shadows now," a voice chuckled from above. "Break the glass, or be broken by it."
---
Battle: Mirror of Broken Joy
The fight was chaotic.
Lian's clone could predict his moves by mimicking his thought patterns.
Jayce's was impossible to hit—dodging with impossible comedic timing.
Boom's clone absorbed kinetic impact, growing stronger with every blow.
Astra took hers down first—with one slash.
Melia didn't.
Her mirror self leaned in and whispered: "We are the same, you and I. You took the rot... but you didn't suffer enough yet."
Melia hesitated.
The clone lunged—and Astra blocked the blow. "Next time you flinch, someone dies."
Melia snapped back and ripped the clone's throat open with pure rot energy, unleashing a new power:
> [New Skill: Rot Scream] – Unleashes suppressed madness in a 10-meter radius. Causes disorientation and decays all enemies. Sanity Cost: 10 points.]
Lian shattered his clone's mask with a punch. The others followed.
---
Aftermath and Losses
They limped forward.
Jayce was wheezing, bruised, but chuckling. "Okay, so… this place? 10 out of 10 haunted Yelp reviews."
Melia looked hollow.
Astra glanced at her.
> "You hesitated."
> "I'm trying," Melia whispered.
> "Try harder."
Boom said nothing. His knuckles were bleeding again.
Lian looked at the path ahead. A giant, broken ferris wheel towered in the distance. At the top was a figure—red coat, massive grin, top hat.
The Ringmaster was watching.
---
End of Chapter 65