Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 115

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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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115. 4th Layer of Heuji’s Labyrinth, Path of Darkness (2)

Serena and her party defeated the Skeleton Labyrinth Chicken and arrived at the clearing with the massive stone gate.

“We already beat the boss, so hurry down. Damn! That scared me!”

The Guide let his guard down as if entering his own home, then was startled when he saw the monster in the Leader’s Chamber.

Cluck!

The interior of the Leader’s Chamber was dark like the path the party had walked so far.

In that darkness, a Skeleton Labyrinth Chicken that had been waiting for victims let out an ominous glow from its eyes and cried eerily.

Cock-a-doodle-doooo!

Clatter.

The Skeleton Goblin riding on the Skeleton Labyrinth Chicken also welcomed the victims by chattering its fleshless jawbones together.

“We already beat the 11th Floor boss, right? It’s already restored?”

“Did the Floor Boss I defeated become undead?”

“Didn’t I dismember it back then?”

Separate from their surprise and confusion, the Guide and Knight’s bodies continued combat.

Olive, who had previously let Ralph fight alone while watching from behind, threw a dagger and knocked off the Skeleton Goblin’s head.

The goblin skull that rolled on the floor turned direction while chattering its jawbone, searching for the living.

Ralph cut the wing bones of the Skeleton Boss Labyrinth Chicken, then struck its neck bones.

Olive and Ralph destroyed the Skeleton’s major joint areas with their silver-plated axe and hammer.

After destroying about half, the bones that had been crawling on the floor trying to attack the living somehow stopped moving.

“Damn, that scared me. I was so fucking startled.”

“Did it become undead because I didn’t clean up properly?”

Undead transformation happens easily in labyrinths.

This was something Olive had warned the party about multiple times.

Ralph racked his brain hard to remember what he did with the corpse after defeating the 11th Floor boss, then made a tearful expression.

While his memory of obtaining the magic sword was clear, he was shocked by the party scattering in the 5th Layer afterward, so he couldn’t remember the early part of the 4th Layer well.

“I think I did something wrong. I didn’t properly dismember the corpse.”

“It’s not like that, so don’t cry, Sir Knight.”

Olive kicked the goblin skull that had lost its ominous glow.

“Look at this. Sir Knight smashed the goblin’s head with his hammer back then. But this skull is clean, right? It’s a different monster.”

“The Leader’s Chamber environment has changed too. Before, it was bright like the Path of Light.”

“That’s right. Thanks to the lantern, my eyes were comfortable so I didn’t notice right away. That changed too.”

“The monsters of the 4th Layer don’t invade each other’s territories. So this Floor Boss is.”

“The Floor Boss of the ‘Path of Darkness’, right?”

Darkness and light. Light and darkness.

The 4th Layer of Heuji’s Labyrinth gave the party two choices.

And on the final floor, it settled the path the party had taken, changing the Floor Boss composition according to the proportion of light and darkness.

‘It wasn’t just the final floor.’

It turned out the entire 4th Layer had that gimmick.

Though they came to open a treasure chest and ended up facing another Floor Boss, Serena didn’t complain.

Why?

[You have defeated a Floor Boss. 1 Shop Coin has been awarded.]

Would she complain after receiving combat rewards?

However, Olive, who didn’t know about coins, seemed displeased.

“If we keep going like this, all the Floor Bosses ahead will be undead. I don’t want to fight these filthy bastards~”

“Please leave the combat to me.”

“Undead don’t give magic stones well either. There’s no beggar like these beggars.”

Olive scratched her head vigorously and opened the door leading to the stairs. Then she stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

“The chest!”

“The chest?”

“The treasure chest changed too, right?”

Olive opened the door wide to show the party the treasure chest next to the stairs.

“The 11th Floor treasure chest was originally shiny. But now it’s ordinary.”

“And the chest is closed!”

“That’s it! They must give new treasure chests according to the path!”

The motivation that was about to disappear from the Guide’s eyes returned.

“If they give another treasure chest, that’s a different story! Let’s quickly open the chest and go down!”

Given Serena’s party’s completely blocked supply situation, it was tacitly decided to hope for consumables or finished products of necessary items from ordinary-grade treasure chests.

“We have salt~ so sugar?”

“Since we have honey, pepper would be better than sugar.”

“Arrows.”

“Just pick up goblin ones.”

“I’d like pepper too!”

When the Princess chose pepper, the party’s opinion converged on pepper.

Olive hummed her own composition while opening the ordinary-grade treasure chest.

The chest contained a seasoning set that could be seen in kitchens.

“Yes! Not just pepper but other spices and seasonings came out too!”

The party collected the seasoning set and went down to the 12th Floor.

***

The Floor Bosses of the Path of Darkness were undead versions of the Floor Bosses from the Path of Light.

Unlike ordinary monsters that could be killed in one hit by striking their weak points, undead were troublesome monsters that required creating a combat-incapacitated state.

Since Ralph alone was often insufficient, Serena also occasionally used magic to defeat undead monsters.

The 12th Floor treasure chest was also ordinary grade.

“It’s good that treasure chests keep appearing~ but it’s disappointing that no shiny ones come out~”

Olive yielded the treasure chest to Ralph, and Ralph yielded it again to Serena.

Serena opened the treasure chest without much expectation.

The reward that came out this time was very small and stuck to the bottom of the chest.

Serena’s eyes widened when she saw the reward that was small and light enough to pick up with two fingers.

“A key?”

“A key? A key came out?”

What came out of the ordinary-grade treasure chest was a metal key.

It looked very ordinary without any particular patterns or features.

Olive reached for her waist, then became sad when she realized she didn’t have a key ring.

“I had a few keys collected too~ *sob*!”

“Will there be a door that can be opened with this key?”

“Don’t get your hopes up. The matching pair for that key is likely in another labyrinth.”

A key to open sealed doors or locked chests.

Only the Labyrinth God would know where the matching pair might be.

“Something other than a key should come out. We have the Princess with us.”

“I’ll say this many times. There’s no guarantee I can open all sealed doors. Don’t get disappointed after having expectations.”

“I know! Just being able to use the transfer device is more than enough! That’s! It!”

Olive shouted while doing all sorts of cute, cool, pretty, and fatal acts.

“This is a labyrinth, right? The bigger the ambition, the better, right? There’s nothing to lose by having expectations, right?”

“It’s burdensome.”

“It’s not my loss though?”

Seeing Olive giggle was quite annoying.

The archer, noticing the Princess’s mood, silently pretended to flick her forehead.

“Huh! I’m not fully healed yet and you’re going to hit me again?”

Olive quickly covered her forehead with her hands and backed away.

Serena shook her head at Ying.

‘Corporal punishment is usually done after the previous wounds heal.’

At least that’s what Serena knew from her past life.

It seemed pitiful to flick someone’s forehead again when the bump hadn’t gone down and the bruise hadn’t faded yet.

Of course, this was a modern person’s perspective – in a medieval fantasy world, the standard for corporal punishment was to hit the same spot repeatedly.

The wounds from previous beatings haven’t healed yet?

Any executioner would scoff at such an excuse.

“Wow! That’s our Princess for you. Your heart is as gentle as silk.”

“Miss Olive! I always think this, but you speak too carelessly! Please be careful!”

“I don’t want to be like this with our Princess either, but it’s become a habit~”

Receiving the Guide’s excuse that wasn’t really an excuse and an apology that resembled an apology, the Princess descended to the 13th Floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth.

***

There was a slight change on the 13th Floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth.

The secret room they had previously discovered remained open.

‘What’s this?’

Serena, who had thought that shining the newly acquired white lantern on the painting in the secret room would reveal missing parts and complete the picture, was surprised.

‘Was that not it?’

“Secret door discovered!”

Fortunately, there was another secret room.

Olive, who had been illuminating the Leader’s Chamber wall with the white lantern, discovered a hidden door.

“It’s locked? Princess! Want to try using the key here?”

“Can’t you open it?”

“When you find a key in a labyrinth, it’s common sense to try it on every keyhole you can find. If you open a door with skill when it was meant for a key, it just gets confusing later.”

“I see.”

The shock and horror of having one key left after opening all the locked doors in a dungeon.

Serena had experienced this indirectly through games and understood immediately.

Serena inserted the key into the keyhole of the secret door.

It didn’t turn.

The Princess retrieved the key.

“It won’t open.”

“Then it’s my turn!”

Olive didn’t seem disappointed, as if she hadn’t expected it to work at all.

The Guide opened the locked door in an instant, just like before.

A stone chamber of the same size as the previously discovered secret room was revealed.

Once again, what caught the party’s attention first was the treasure chest.

Serena didn’t miss the statue in the corner either.

“It’s sparkling!”

As if to compensate for the consecutive common-grade treasure chests, what was in this stone chamber was a rare-grade treasure chest.

“A weapon! This has to be a weapon! A dagger set, magic arrows, or a magic bow!”

Wait, Serena postponed opening the treasure chest for an experiment.

‘The statue’s position has changed.’

When she went to the secret room they had found first, the statue was gone.

The statue’s position had changed.

‘Should I save? If the rewards change each time I open a chest, I might be able to save-load grind until I get good items.’

Touch the statue to save before opening the chest.

Open the chest, and if the reward isn’t satisfactory, die and load.

Then repeat the process of opening the chest infinitely.

Dying a lot would be burdensome, but it was worth experimenting two or three times.

‘Let me save first.’

She couldn’t forget how much she regretted not saving on the 13th Floor when she was left alone on the 5th Floor.

Serena touched the statue first.

“Should we pray for something good to come out?”

“Yes. You can open it now.”

Ralph and Serena deliberately kept their distance from the treasure chest.

Olive and Ying decided to open the treasure chest together.

“Then I’m opening it! One, two, three!”

From the rare-grade treasure chest came a weapon, just as everyone had hoped.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t the type of weapon they wanted.

“It’s a spear.”

Olive held up a spear that was longer than the treasure chest.

It looked like a fairly good spear, but Olive’s expression was dark.

Olive smiled somewhat awkwardly.

“Hmm~ I’m not really into spears.”

“I prefer swords too.”

More than just prefer. Ralph would lose a star if he didn’t use a sword. It would be better to discard the spear.

“Let’s take it for now and aim for the next treasure chest.”

“There’s no need. Ying, please kill me.”

“What?”

Before the group could react, the archer’s dagger slashed the Princess’s throat.

‘If a spear comes out again next time, the experiment ends.’

Even though she could regress, constantly dying wasn’t good for her mental health.

Look at the number of gacha coins Serena had collected now.

She had gathered 17 of them.

‘Should I start summoning people soon?’

If a spear came out on the second attempt too, how about summoning someone who was good with spears?

Serena’s ambitious plan was interrupted the moment she met those crimson eyes.

“Treasure chests will continue to appear in the future. Checking rewards and then dying is not advisable.”

The Labyrinth God seemed displeased that the Princess was using the regression blessing he had given her to change treasure chest rewards, and showed his displeasure.

The voice that had been as kind as looking at a grandchild even when Serena was rude now openly scolded the Princess for her foolish behavior.

“The rewards in chests do change depending on the situation. But unless it’s an unavoidable circumstance, don’t bring death upon yourself.”

“I’m sorry. I was foolish.”

Since the master of the labyrinth found save-load grinding unpleasant, it was proper to stop.

“I apologize, but I have one thing to ask. If I touch the statue, summon someone, and then die, what happens? Does the summoned person remain, or do they disappear?”

“I won’t stop you from trying once to satisfy your curiosity.”

The Labyrinth God kindly encouraged her like telling a child afraid of waves to dip their feet in first.

“Haha, I’ll try it later.”

The Princess’s curiosity was greatly dampened. Serena decided to think about the summoning issue slowly.

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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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