An old mansion stands tall in front of the team, its eerie presence sending chills through them. A set of stairs, lined with statues resembling modern one-story houses, leads them up to the large metal double doors. Lisa grabs one of the house-shaped door knockers, giving it a firm knock. An annoyed “meeeow” echoes in response. The knockers then display a minimum entry requirement of three thousand essence. After a few seconds, the team's bands vibrate, glowing green, and the doors slide open slowly rather than swinging inward.

Inside the mansion, the team is met with an unexpected sight – a small village of modern white houses, each one facing the mansion doors. The interior feels much larger than what the mansion’s exterior suggests. Each house has its own fence, and the roofs vary in color. The flat floor beneath is bare cement, forming paths that connect the homes.

“Aren’t you, like, gonna tell us what’s the deal here?” Christine asks, agitated.

“Right! Sorry, Miss Christine.”

“Behold, as our mute finally speaks,” Wyn whispers to Yu.

“Don’t stir things up!” Yu whispers back, poking Wyn with his elbow.

The team is free to choose any of the houses to enter. The main difference is the interior while the creatures they’re facing inside remain much the same. Entering the house with a purple roof, they're greeted by decor inspired by the nineties era. The floor is covered by an unattractive dark red and dirty white carpet, the furniture is all heavy wood, and the centerpiece is an outdated floral couch. The room is filled with the musty odor of aged fabrics and stagnant air. While no one else can relate, Wyn and Anish feel a wave of nostalgia, recalling the Western television shows they used to watch from that era.

“Yo! Old man, stop appreciating this trash and get a move on already, eh,” James says, referring to Wyn.

“You’re such a disgrace, Landon! This style once represented your country’s culture,” Wyn replies.

“This is much nicer than my tiny home…,” Anish murmurs, lying sprawled on the floor.

Despite its one-story appearance from the outside, the house actually has multiple floors, connected by creaky wooden stairs. The objective is simple: locate the golden flying sphere, destroy it, then defeat the final summoned creature.

Every step on the wooden stairs causes a creaky noise and thumping sound, potentially attracting the lesser creatures that reside within the house. The first floor is empty of creatures, but the golden sphere is nowhere to be found. To improve their chances, Lisa suggests the team split up. With their current essence counts, the creatures they encounter should be manageable.

“Two, two, three or three, four?” Yu asks.

A headache follows as splitting teams is harder than it seems. Mira and Lisa refuse to part. James wants to follow Mira, while Anish wishes to keep James in check. Christine won’t let go of Yu’s hand, though Wyn and Yu also want to see Lisa’s display of her powers. Finally, Wyn has had enough of the commotion.

“Mira, Lisa, Anish, James, to the third and fourth floors. Lisa is to assume leadership. The rest, second floor with me.”

“I’m so sorry, Mister Wyn, but I don’t know how to be a leader. Please let Mira do it.”

“No, it has to be you. The trio on your team is a headache when they’re together.”

Regardless of the floors, the layouts are random. On the second floor, in the first room beside the stairs, Wyn finds a living room oddly fitted with white bathroom tiles. Green gooey creatures, known simply as slimes, cling to the ceiling and walls. They shoot themselves at the squad in an attempt to engulf them. Unlike mimics, these slimes lack the ability to dissolve their prey quickly. Wyn and Christine use snow and rock to break apart the slimes, causing them to splatter. The slimes are slippery when stepped on, so the three carefully make their way into a seemingly normal bathroom, where they find the toilet bowl crawling with noble worms.

Wyn is easily captivated by most insects but doesn’t dare to touch them. As he observes the worms, he hears a faint but constant buzz. Yu summons a jet of water from within the bowl, creating a fountain that propels the worms up, sending them splattering all over the bathroom. Christine reacts with a scream, shielding herself behind a snow pillar. Amid the rain of worms, the golden sphere becomes visible, shining so brightly that it illuminates the room and obscures the three’s vision. The sphere flies out of the bathroom, making its escape.

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On the third floor, the four souls find themselves bombarded by the crawlers – creatures that can scurry along the ceiling and walls with their amphibian feet. It’s definitely Mira’s luck to run into another species that utilizes tongues for offense. However, these tongues are lined with microscopic spikes, allowing them to latch onto their prey. While the others are fending off the crawlers, Lisa stands still.

“I’m so sorry guys, I’m specialized in ranged combat. I’m useless in close quarter fights,” Lisa says, almost breaking into tears.

“You can’t be serious! You don’t have to use your weapon to attack, eh!” James complains.

Anish and Mira fuse their powers to create a fiery wind barrier, while James shouts at Lisa to shoot lasers from her hands. Though Mira is tempted to scold James for upsetting Lisa, she knows that lasers can penetrate the wind barrier. Lisa complies, and the crawlers are no match for her powerful beams.

“Thank…thank you, Mister James.”

“So much for the leader role…,” James says.

“Be nice to my sister, or no more bobs and vagene for you!”

“Hey! What? You can’t say that!” Anish exclaims.

As the four venture into the garage, they hear Yu shouting from above. They rush back to the stairs and follow his voice to the fourth floor. In a living room, Wyn’s squad is battling a couple of armsters and legsters. Wyn signals Lisa’s squad to chase the sphere into a nearby bedroom. Swiftly, Lisa fires laser beams from her weapon, sending them from the living room through the door into the bedroom, where the sphere is instantly obliterated. The house erupts in blinding light, rendering everything invisible. When the light fades, they find themselves in an empty white space, sparkling with uncollected essence, with a wooden house standing in front of them.

“House within a house within a house…housin’-ception!” Yu remarks.

“It’s actually a house within a house within a mansion,” James replies, with a hint of snobbery.

The enemy house resembles a wooden cabin, the kind that might be found deep in the woods. Sturdy logs beautifully chiseled into the shape of elephant feet support the structure at the corners, allowing it to stand and move steadily. Its wooden arms resemble flexible vines, stemming from the four corners of the house. As Lisa briefs the team on the creature, it suddenly lifts its front legs and stomps the ground, sending two waves of vines crawling on the ground toward them. Most of the team dodges, but Wyn and Mira stand their ground.

Wyn counters by summoning a rock pillar to block the vines. When it shatters, he quickly follows up with a fiery cyclone. The flames consume the vines effortlessly and strike the house directly. The creature barely reacts, instead it extends a vine-like arm toward the floating Anish. He quickly hooks his javelin into the ground, pulling himself out of harm's way. Meanwhile, Yu and Christine fuse their powers to create an avalanche that slams into the side of the creature, trapping its feet in the snow and preventing another stomp.

At the same time, Lisa takes aim at the door with her gun and fires fully-charged laser beams, blasting the door off its hinges and causing the creature to momentarily pause. Seizing the opportunity, Wyn and Mira unleash a charged-up fiery cyclone from above. The flames engulf the creature, but it remains eerily still, showing no sign of pain as it burns. The aptly named cabin-not-in-the-woods creature disintegrates into essence.

“Yay! Good job, everyone! Its weak points are the door and the windows. Breaking either one causes it to stop moving and makes it vulnerable before it can regrow,” Lisa adds.

“How strong you said you were again?” Wyn asks.

“Slightly over ten thousand essence, Mister Wyn.”

Aside from Mira, the rest of the team is in shock. After collecting the essence, they’re teleported back to the front of the mansion. Seeing how everyone is admiring Lisa’s strength, Christine takes this opportunity to speak up.

“Should we, like, have a new leader?”

“You’re still on this topic?” Mira asks, seemingly frustrated.

“Actually, I don’t mind. She’s indeed strong. We can vote. If you want Lisa to lead, raise your hand,” Wyn says calmly, despite Lisa's plea not to put her up as a candidate.

Christine quickly raises her hand. However, no one else does.

“Awkward…,” Mira remarks.

“James?” Christine asks, desperately.

James is silent. He looks to the ground momentarily before looking at Christine.

“I don’t like the guy much, but I don’t know Lisa that well yet, eh. I’d vote myself, but between the two, I’d choose him…for now,” James replies.

Embarrassed and angry, Christine teleports back to the campsite by herself, not uttering a single word. As Yu is about to follow her, Mira holds Yu’s arm, asking him to stay with the team instead. The look on Wyn’s face is nothing short of worry. Things aren’t going as well within the team as he thought.

“Be…behind the mansion, there’s a great place to collect essence,” Lisa suggests, breaking the gloomy moment.

What is known as the “Slaughter Maze” is a place full of sinister creatures. Despite being one of the best locations to farm essence, most souls tend to stay away from it.

“I’ll be on the ready to open an emergency portal for us if things go wrong….,” Lisa says, voice shaken.