Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 108

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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108. You Don’t Just Cast Curses Carelessly (3)

Child, who harbored grand ambitions of marrying Serena to Prince Willow, recited information about the merchandise for sale.

“Do you have any questions about His Highness Prince Willow? The Prince says that Your Highness the Princess is exactly his ideal type! He says he’s so excited about meeting the woman of his dreams that he can’t sleep!”

It was truly useless information.

‘Did he get his head cracked open from excitement and die?’

It was just this morning that the Prince nearly died but survived thanks to quick potion application.

To Serena’s perception it felt like several days ago, but anyway, it was an incident that happened this morning.

Grey, unaware that the precious Prince had nearly died, smiled innocently.

“It’s not about that – I came to ask about something I’m curious about, though it’s not magic.”

Empowered by the delusion of a child who believed she was hiding well while seeming to have been found out by a few, Serena boldly used informal speech.

“Wow! The Princess has discovered the fun of magic too! Magic is really interesting, isn’t it?”

“Not magic – curses. Tell me everything you know.”

Serena, who had avoided studying all her life and never went to university, didn’t know.

She didn’t know what kind of hell would unfold if you asked an expert to tell you everything they knew about their field of expertise.

Three hours later. While others had finished eating and cleared their meals, Serena, who couldn’t even eat because she was listening to a special lecture on curses, cried out in surrender.

“I was very wrong. Don’t tell me everything you know – just teach me common knowledge.”

“Huh? We’re just getting started.”

The differences between magic and curses, the origins of curses, how curses work, and so on. Grey claimed it was all common knowledge.

Serena changed her approach to end this lecture hell.

“I’ll listen to the lesson later, so just answer what I ask. How to break curses.”

“That’s exactly it! To break a curse, you need to know what a curse is first!”

“Enough! Just tell me what to do if you get cursed in this labyrinth!”

At the Princess’s tantrum, the expression disappeared from Grey’s face.

Grey was about to grab a blunt weapon, put strength into his core, and shout ‘Time for a scolding!’ at the impudent Princess.

“Ugh.”

But he endured after seeing the alchemist and prince frantically waving their hands behind the Princess.

‘He got scared.’

Serena, who had inwardly been nervous, felt relieved and urged for an answer.

“Tell me quickly.”

“Ugh, just a moment. My blood pressure…”

It would be worrying if a person over 60 complained about blood pressure, but Grey’s body was a healthy 12-year-old, so it wasn’t concerning at all.

Serena calmly waited for an answer.

“Ugh. At my age… You don’t need to worry about being cursed in the labyrinth. Curses aren’t originally that powerful.”

‘But they were powerful? I killed the Prince several times with them.’

“Besides, Your Highness is being protected by the Labyrinth God, right? And originally, ruling bloodlines are like strong amulets themselves, so they block most curses.”

“But what if you received a very powerful curse? A dangerous curse that threatens your life.”

“Enough to kill someone? That’s impossible.”

“What if, hypothetically.”

Grey frowned and crossed his arms.

“To cast such a powerful curse, there are many conditions to meet. First, the date. To avoid offending the great beings residing in heaven with powerful curses that affect human lives, you need to choose a day when most gods are in peaceful moods…”

Grey’s lesson was about to restart. Serena quickly boycotted the class.

“Please give me a three-line summary.”

Grey’s eyes widened and his small nose flared.

Behind Serena, the alchemist and prince frantically waved their hands again. They waved so enthusiastically that the wind from their hands reached the back of Serena’s head.

“Huff, whew.”

Grey trembled with his small hands, then let his shoulders droop.

He seemed to have given up on something, but looked much more comfortable.

“For a curse to become strong, you need to specify conditions. For example.”

Grey’s gaze fell on the guide who was bothering Lavenda.

“Like Olive getting worse constipation every time she steps on a new floor of the labyrinth, until she eventually gets hemorrhoids.”

It wasn’t even a bolt from the blue. The guide’s hand moved toward his buttocks.

Olive, who had suddenly received a hemorrhoid curse out of nowhere, opened her round eyes even rounder and protested.

“I was wondering why it’s been hard to use the restroom lately. It was because of you?”

“It was just an example. You only eat meat and bread, and maybe constipation is coming because labyrinth exploration is difficult? Now that you can eat vegetables, please eat lots of them.”

‘Conditions, huh.’

Serena had wished for Prince Willow to wander the labyrinth and die a miserable death.

So that meant the curse couldn’t exert its power if he left the labyrinth.

‘But he can’t leave.’

Did she have to continue exploring the labyrinth while taking care of Prince Willow’s life and death?

As she held her forehead with a gloomy heart, Grey continued speaking.

“Did the Labyrinth God tell you that the monsters appearing on the next layer specialize in curses? You don’t need to worry much about curses. At most, goblins-“

“Goblins?”

“Yes. Goblin shamans sometimes cast curses, but they’re not that dangerous.”

‘So it was goblins!’

She had wondered who cursed the Princess, and it turned out a goblin shaman was the culprit(?)

Serena recalled the goblin shaman who had been muttering something earnestly while looking at her just before dying, and asked in detail.

“What kind of curses might goblins cast?”

“Well, statistically.”

“Not statistics. Really tell me everything you know about this.”

“The types of curses that goblin shamans can cast are deeply related to the environment of the goblin settlement they belong to-“

Then Grey’s mouth was about to run wild like an unbridled colt. Serena immediately canceled her statement.

“Cancel! What were the statistics?”

Grey sighed once, as if wondering whether he shouldn’t be angry at such impudence, and answered.

“Curses from goblin shamans in labyrinths lack diversity compared to external goblin shamans and are weaker in effect. The most common one they cast is the curse of detection. It’s a curse that makes you more likely to be discovered by other monsters and become a target of concentrated attacks during combat.”

“Goblin shamans cast curses like that too? I never felt it.”

Olive asked as if hearing this for the first time. Grey readily accepted the auditing student.

“Labyrinth explorers at Olive’s level aren’t affected by curses, so you might not know. Even if monsters chase you more easily, you can just dodge them better.”

While labyrinth explorers like Olive who explore the deep layers of labyrinths couldn’t feel it, Serena had a feeling the moment she heard it.

‘This is it.’

No wonder on the 5th floor, which had a forced dispersion mechanic but low monster appearance rates, she encountered brush wolves as soon as she was alone.

Meeting the formidable dryad head-on, being marked by that dryad, and being chased by 5th floor monsters – it was all because of this.

‘It was because of the curse!’

“There are also curses that slightly increase the speed of pursuing monsters or make them more aggressive.”

It was all applicable to Serena’s situation.

The goblin shaman had died without finishing his words, but it seemed he had cast all the curses he could before dying.

“So? How long are those curses effective? Do they end once you’ve experienced them all?”

“Probably maintained for about 3 floors. Statistically.”

‘Ugh.’

The Princess groaned inwardly. At least it wasn’t 3 layers, which was fortunate.

‘If the curse had ended after passing the 5th floor… I wouldn’t have said I was cursed. Do I have to go down the stairs for it to be acknowledged?!’

Whether the curse was persistent, or because she moved on flat ground without going down stairs, or for some unknown reason, Serena was still under the curse cast by the goblin.

The reason the labyrinth alligator on the 21st floor targeted Prince Willow instead of Serena?

Obviously, it must be because the curse on Prince Willow was more powerful.

“Then let’s go back to the topic a bit – what should you do if you’re under a curse strong enough to kill someone?”

“That’s what I’m saying! It’s impossible to cast such a curse! Are Your Highness going to keep insisting?”

“Just answer!”

‘I’m doing all this to save your guy!’

She was making an effort to save someone else’s guy, not even her own, so why didn’t he understand!

As Serena and the finally exploded Grey confronted each other, Count Randy didn’t know what to do, and Prince Willow chose to evacuate.

But this is the Labyrinth, specifically the lobby. There’s nowhere to hide in this wide-open space except for the hot spring.

Prince Willow saw Lavenda heading to the Herb Garden Spring with laundry and approached her.

“Are you going to do laundry?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll help you.”

“No, I couldn’t dare ask Your Highness.”

“Don’t say that. We’re all companions working together to escape the Labyrinth. If I can help, I should.”

Prince Willow reassured Lavenda with a gentle smile and took all the laundry.

Grey frowned as he watched the prince flirting with the masseuse instead of the princess, then—

“Aaagh!”

As soon as the prince left the lobby, he stepped on the long trail of laundry, fell over, and didn’t get back up. Grey jumped up in shock.

“Kyaah! Blood!”

Lavenda, who was closest to the prince, screamed when she saw blood spreading from the fallen prince’s face.

Count Randy rushed over with a high-grade potion, but it was already too late—Prince Willow was dead.

‘Now he dies from carrying laundry?’

“Wil!”

Serena heard Grey’s anguished cry again, which she never wanted to hear.

The princess pressed her deeply furrowed brow and gestured to the archer. Ying flew over at Serena’s single gesture.

Using the fast and swift Zero Express, Serena arrived at her destination and asked the god with crimson eyes.

“Is there really no way to break the prince’s curse?”

“Actually, it’s not that dangerous a curse. He just shouldn’t enter the Labyrinth.”

‘We’re trapped in the Labyrinth!’

The Minotaur God smiled mysteriously, as if he could or couldn’t read Serena’s thoughts.

“Since you figured out the curse on your own, I’ll tell you this.”

“Thank you!”

“There are areas in the Labyrinth that are safe from the curse.”

“I see! Where are they?”

The Minotaur God smiled like a dog owner who had hidden treats under a cushion.

“Look carefully.”

“A hint! Please give me at least a hint!”

“Very well. To use a phrase from your memories.”

The god with crimson eyes smiled broadly.

“The darkest place is under the lamp.”

The bluebird of hope is always nearby. Serena immediately figured out the area safe from the curse.

‘Is it there? Then how do I convince the prince and Grey?’

“Your prayers seem especially long today.”

“I bet next time a floor with forced separation mechanics appears, she’ll whine for advance warning. I’d actually like that~”

As always, voices interrupted Serena’s thoughts. Serena got a hint from them.

She didn’t need to think too hard about it. Serena had an invincible persuasion technique.

Still, it was embarrassing to act in front of a peer she was most likely to marry.

‘Embarrassment doesn’t put food on the table. He keeps dying, so I have to save him.’

Besides, the cause of his death was Serena’s misunderstanding.

To take responsibility for what she had done, Serena resolutely stood up and pointed at Prince Willow.

“The Minotaur God has told me! Prince Willow is cursed!”

The princess who had been praying demurely suddenly stood up, flashing her one eye while pointing accusingly.

“What?”

Prince Willow froze in shock at the princess’s sudden transformation.

“I thought so. Your prayers were unusually long.”

Philia nodded calmly.

Serena thinks of newcomers checking the rock-blocked exit as an annual event or initiation rite.

But everyone except Serena considered witnessing the princess’s eccentric behavior as the initiation rite.

And now.

The newcomer undergoing initiation focused on the words that came from the princess’s mouth.

“A curse?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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