Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 118

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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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118. Heuji’s Labyrinth 4th Layer, Path of Darkness (5)

Serena’s party descended the stairs and reached the 15th floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth 4th Layer.

The light crystal lost its glow and became an opaque stone, while the darkness crystal absorbed the surrounding light and cast a veil of darkness over the Leader’s Chamber.

It was a strange darkness where even with great effort, one couldn’t see five steps ahead without using the magic lanterns obtained from the labyrinth.

In the darkness, an undead goblin party opened their eyes and glowed with dark red light.

The party composition was a skeleton version of the goblin party that had emerged from walking the Path of Light.

The skeleton group that served as the 15th floor’s leaders emanated a completely different level of malevolent aura compared to the skeletons that had wandered the 4th layer.

Goosebumps rose on the party members’ skin as if they had suddenly been hit by cold wind after being in a hot place.

Kiiiek.

When the hateful gaze of the undead that despised living beings reached him, Ralph gulped down dry saliva.

Serena launched a preemptive strike to ease the Knight’s tension.

“What I desire is an explosion that bursts joints!”

She cast a mana explosion right in the center of the undead goblin party, and without checking if the magic was properly cast, immediately chanted another spell.

“Ice-cold ice to seal their mouths!”

It would be troublesome to be cursed by the Goblin Shaman again. Serena sealed the shaman’s mouth first.

Boom!

The mana explosion and the ice arrow created by magic flying toward the Skeleton Mage happened almost simultaneously.

“Tch.”

Serena, who had focused on controlling the ice arrow and successfully sealed the Goblin Shaman’s jawbone with ice, clicked her tongue when she belatedly saw that the undead had withstood the mana explosion.

The skeletons of the 4th layer had collapsed even from weak mana explosions, but the 15th floor skeletons were standing firm.

‘That’s what you get with floor bosses.’

The arm of the Skeleton Goblin Archer at the explosion’s epicenter fell off, but was immediately reassembled.

The undead party that had withstood the mana explosion shot murderous glares to focus their attack on the Princess.

But Serena wasn’t frightened.

“Hiyaaah!”

“Ugh, how tiresome!”

Because Serena wasn’t alone.

Ralph shouted louder than the Skeleton Goblin Warrior’s ghostly wail as he drew his magic sword and charged.

Olive also moved to attack the Undead Goblin Rider to prevent goblin summoning.

Ying aimed her crossbow at the Skeleton Mage whose mouth was blocked by ice and couldn’t cast spells from her position.

Whoosh!

The bolt shot from the crossbow shattered the skeleton’s skull along with the ice.

The headless Skeleton Mage, now unable to cast spells, flailed around waving a staff adorned with multiple skulls.

The silver-plated axe shattered the Skeleton Labyrinth Chicken’s shin and also smashed the skeleton rider’s ribs.

“Got another horn, ugh, what is this!”

Olive picked up the goblin summoning horn with an excited face, then became serious at the malevolent aura emanating from the horn and threw it away.

“Hyaah!”

Ralph’s magic sword had good compatibility with undead.

The bones cut by the sword lost their power to reassemble and returned to ordinary bones.

Ralph’s sword severed the Undead Goblin Warrior’s neck bones, then split its spine and pelvic bones.

After the Goblin Warrior fell, the archer met the same fate.

Even as his comrades met their second demise one by one, Ralph dealt with the flailing Goblin Shaman.

The Young Knight, who had accumulated decent combat experience, calmly checked his surroundings to see if any enemies remained.

Once the Knight was certain all enemies had fallen, his face changed to that of a cheerful boy.

“I think we’ve defeated them all!”

“Ugh, I touched something dirty. Undead are just pure beggars, I tell you.”

Most undead had no magic stones, no byproducts, and even their equipment was tainted with corruption and malevolence, making it all garbage.

The grumbling Guide’s eyes caught sight of some reasonably useful loot.

“Oh, there was this?”

Olive brightened up and picked up the skull staff the Goblin Shaman had been holding.

She counted the number of skulls hanging on the staff.

“Let’s see. One, two, three… five skulls attached? This should be expensive.”

“That disgusting staff?”

Ralph wrinkled his face as he looked at the skull staff.

Judging by the skull sizes, they weren’t human, but a staff made from collected goblin and other monster skulls was expensive?

Ralph couldn’t understand people who would pay money for such a hideous object.

Olive felt the same way and shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t really know either, but they pay more the more skulls there are.”

“I can feel a lot of mana from it. The skulls seem to serve a similar role to magic stones.”

“Then would you like to use it, Princess?”

“No.”

Serena became serious and backed away.

Among the items obtained from defeating the 15th Floor Path of Darkness floor boss, the skull staff was the only useful loot.

There were no injured, but Olive and Ralph, who had fought the undead in close combat, caught their breath for a moment.

“Let’s take ten deep breaths and then open the door.”

“Yes. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.”

After exactly ten deep breaths, the Guide opened the door where the stairs and treasure chest were located.

Olive, who had been annoyed and sad about getting nothing worthwhile from the undead, broke into a big smile.

“It’s a brilliant box!”

A magic-grade chest that had once rewarded a subspace bag greeted the party.

Olive quickly checked for traps and monsters, then stepped back.

“Calm down, I need to stay calm. I must be composed at times like this!”

“It’s a sparkly sparkly sparkly sparkly box!”

“Right, Knight. It’s brilliant, so we need to stay calm. Let’s take deep breaths again. Inhale, exhale.”

“Inhale, exhale.”

“Since everyone has weapons, it would be good if something for Olive comes out.”

“That’s not it, Princess.”

She had hoped for her own equipment, but the Guide shook her head vigorously.

“What do you mean?”

“Ah~ Princess doesn’t know. From this brilliant magic box! Amazingly!”

‘Amazingly?’

Not knowing what amazing item would come out, Olive didn’t speak immediately and built suspense.

“Speak quickly.”

“Amazingly!”

Olive spread both arms and pointed to the magic-grade treasure chest.

“Escape magic tools come out!”

Labyrinth escape tools.

At the Guide’s words, Serena’s thoughts, which had at most been considering a subspace bag, came to a halt.

Ralph was shocked as if he might faint.

“Gasp! Really?”

“Yes! So we need to think carefully. Instead of blindly hoping for weapons, since escape magic tools might come out, maybe we should aim for those instead.”

Labyrinth escape.

Serena’s heart began beating uncontrollably.

The Princess steadied her breathing as she looked at Ying.

“Is this true?”

The archer nodded.

After completing the cross-verification, Ralph smiled as brightly as the sun.

“Then of course the escape magic tool would be better!”

“But there are several types of escape magic tools, and the probability of getting one is also low~”

Olive inflated Serena and Ralph’s lungs and hearts to the point of bursting, then said something else.

“Should we hope for an escape magic tool and risk getting some completely random reward due to the low probability! Or should we wish for a weapon with a high chance of appearing! Let’s decide this and then open the chest! That’s it!”

“Even if the possibility is low, we can’t give up! If everyone wishes for it earnestly, it will come true!”

Ralph’s heart was completely leaning toward the escape magic tool.

Serena felt the same way.

‘If we can get out of the labyrinth, we can save 100,000 people right away.’

If only the labyrinth exit would open, literally dying 100,000 times to collect 100,000 coins and summon people to send them out through the exit would be enough.

There would be no need to fight monsters with difficulty and hardship, break through dangerous traps, solve labyrinth gimmicks, and conquer the labyrinth.

Of course, leaving the labyrinth would bring its own pile of troublesome problems.

Still, it was better than being trapped in the labyrinth and suffering even after death.

‘Stay calm, Serena. You must always be suspicious of good news.’

She felt fortunate that she was thinking negatively and being suspicious today of all days.

Serena asked the question that immediately came to mind.

“You keep saying the possibility is low, but how low exactly?”

“The deeper you go into the labyrinth, the higher the chance of an escape magic tool appearing. But here, it’s still only the 15th floor, so don’t even dream about it level?”

Hearing Olive’s answer, Serena was dumbfounded and angry, raising her voice.

“Then there’s almost no possibility! Why did you mention something you didn’t need to say?”

“Princess, you told me to say all the information about the labyrinth as it comes to mind. The possibility isn’t zero, so I mentioned it.”

“Princess. Olive is right. Since the probability isn’t zero, it’s worth trying.”

‘He’s talking about raising probability through determination.’

Serena pressed her forehead.

Raising probability through dreams and hope, determination, effort, courage, love and friendship only works in fiction.

And this was reality, and reality’s probabilities were always harsh.

‘Those people seem to be acting like that because they trust me.’

Serena looked at the Knight and Guide staring at her with sparkling eyes and sighed inwardly.

It was obvious they thought that since Serena was favored by the Labyrinth God, the probability of an escape magic tool appearing would also be high.

‘But that’s not how it works. If the Labyrinth God let people escape easily, would that be the Labyrinth God? That would be the Escape God.’

It was true that the Labyrinth God provided Serena with various conveniences.

But those were conveniences for labyrinth ‘conquest,’ not conveniences for ‘escape.’

‘Save-load grinding might make it possible, but that was immediately blocked. Maybe it was a warning given in advance.’

Serena’s regression should be used for labyrinth conquest, not for labyrinth escape.

The Princess realized anew.

“Both of you, get your heads straight. The Labyrinth God helps me conquer the labyrinth comfortably, but doesn’t help with escaping the labyrinth.”

“Is that so? Well, it is the Labyrinth God after all.”

Olive was openly disappointed, having apparently had expectations.

“I don’t really understand. Why is that?”

“A labyrinth is a labyrinth because it makes people wander inside. Would it make sense for the Labyrinth God to help people escape such a labyrinth?”

“That’s… I understand.”

Ralph looked completely dejected, staring down at the floor.

A magic-grade treasure chest had finally appeared, but no one wanted to open it.

“Then should I just open it hoping for my weapon?”

“Please wait a moment!”

As Olive was about to open the chest, Ralph stopped her.

“Why? Knight, you already have a magic sword.”

“It’s unfair to discuss among ourselves and open the chest. The people in the lobby should also hear the explanation and think together.”

‘Isn’t this torture by false hope?’

The probability of an escape magic tool appearing was slim, yet they were going to inform everyone and open the chest.

To Serena, it sounded like tormenting people who were doing fine, but Ralph’s expression was serious.

“Hmm~ Well, the old young master might think of more useful magic tools than my weapon, so that might be better?”

Olive agreed with Ralph’s opinion, reasoning that Grey could think of better rewards.

The Knight and Guide’s gazes focused on the Princess.

Ying would follow the Princess’s opinion, so what remained was Serena’s decision.

Serena lowered her head and thought hard.

‘With more people, desires grow larger, so the possibility of an escape magic tool appearing would also increase. Even if not, it’s unfair for only the assault team to open chests and get the rewards they want. The remaining party must also have things they need.’

She also considered the disadvantages, not just the advantages.

‘But with as many people as there are desires, strange rewards might appear. And if an escape magic tool doesn’t appear, they’ll be disappointed as much as they expected. The assault team wasn’t monopolizing chests in the first place, but if we take this chest, we might have to bring every high-grade treasure chest to the lobby from now on.’

Thinking she was being too negative, she recalled the positive aspects again.

‘But getting Grey’s advice seems like a good idea. Since he knows the labyrinth well, he probably knows the reward items from magic-grade chests too. He might know better rewards than what we thought of?’

As the Princess’s contemplation deepened, the other two people’s gazes watching the Princess became more persistent.

Ying quietly approached the treasure chest and opened it.

Click.

“Ah! Zero! Are you crazy!”

“Ahhh! How could you open it on your own!”

“Opening it without saying anything! What are you doing!”

Olive ran over lightning-fast and grabbed Ying by the collar.

Ying answered while being grabbed by the collar.

“In the labyrinth, you must be faithful to your desires.”

“Why did you open it on your own! We were all thinking about it!”

“I wanted to open it, so I opened it. That’s all.”

“If you’re going to ignore the party’s opinion and do whatever you want, why form a party! This is why you’re always left alone, isn’t it?”

The Guide, shocked by the archer’s sudden action, was genuinely angry, veins bulging in his neck.

“The labyrinth is merciless to those who turn away from their desires and hesitate.”

“Who doesn’t know that?”

“It’s too late.”

“What nonsense!”

“Can’t you see? The gift the labyrinth gives to those who hesitate.”

“Ying. What on earth are you talking about. Hm?”

Grooooooo-.

Serena turned her head at the roar coming from behind.

The bones of the Skeleton Goblin party that the party had defeated fused into one and recreated into a Bone Golem, raising its giant hand to greet the party.

Having somehow obtained additional bones, the Bone Golem’s size was enormous.

It was bigger than the Minotaur they had seen on the 2nd Layer.

The group blinked in surprise at the suddenly appeared Bone Golem, looking up at the monster.

Strangely strong death energy dominated the surroundings to the point where it was odd they hadn’t sensed it. Their skin stung.

The undead’s ominous glow stared at the group.

Groooooong!

As if raising its hand wasn’t out of joy, the Bone Golem brought down its giant hand.

“Dodge!”

Serena’s party scattered in all directions to avoid the Bone Golem’s hand.

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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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