Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 125

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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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125. Mimic Field (1)

The poison gas area was quite long.

As Ralph had said, it would be dangerous to hold one’s breath and run through it.

“I could do it though? Of course, since it’s dangerous, I won’t try it~”

“I could do it as well.”

Let me correct that. It would be dangerous for Serena and Count Randy to hold their breath and run through it.

Ralph picked up a bug crawling on the ground.

The bug with long legs and a long body wriggled disgustingly.

“Couldn’t we use this as food for Chicken?”

What Olive had arbitrarily named had become the chicken golem’s official name.

“Chickens like bugs. Sometimes you need to give them sand, bones, or shells too.”

“If it eats something like this, even though Chicken is a golem, it might get sick.”

Why do we only skin the labyrinth alligators when we catch them?

Because eating creatures that live in this filthy environment would probably make you sick.

Ralph, convinced by Serena’s words, threw away the bug.

“If you’re going to give it bugs, there are plenty of bees on the 4th layer. Just bring some of those.”

“Aren’t those too big?”

“It’s a golem, so it’ll figure out how to eat them~”

“I’ve seen butterflies on the 4th layer, so there must be other bugs too. There might be bugs in the pond on the 2nd layer as well.”

“If we feed it well, will it lay lots of eggs? I’ll let you know if I find any bugs.”

“Please do.”

The party chatted leisurely about providing protein for the new member of the lobby.

As the party was peacefully returning, a glittering object caught their attention.

There was a stone chamber in the sewer wall with a treasure chest placed in the center.

“That’s!”

‘It’s a magic-grade chest!’

In the dark and filthy sewer, a golden treasure chest was glowing on its own.

Ralph was about to approach as if enchanted when Olive grabbed him.

“Don’t get enchanted, everyone. Look carefully. It’s a monster.”

At the guide’s warning, Serena looked away from the glowing treasure chest and carefully examined the surroundings.

Serena discovered something like tentacles extending from the bottom of the treasure chest.

The knowledgeable alchemist explained about the monster.

“It’s a Treasure Box Abyss. It uses treasure chests as bait to lure and devour people.”

“Was that its name? I just called it a really big mimic.”

“Is it a large monster?”

“Big enough to swallow us all in one gulp when it opens its mouth wide?”

“It’s such a large monster.”

Ralph followed the tentacles trying to find the monster, then said.

“I can’t find it.”

“The Treasure Box Abyss can change its skin color to match the surrounding environment. That entire stone chamber is probably the inside of the monster’s mouth.”

“Yeah. When you enter the room to open the treasure chest, it closes its mouth and gulp! swallows you.”

“Gasp! It was a much bigger monster than I thought!”

‘It’s huge.’

A monster so large that you could mistake its mouth for a room.

My brow furrowed automatically as I wondered how to deal with it.

Olive said it wasn’t necessarily that bad and drew something like a tadpole on the ground.

“Its body is smaller than its head. Still, if you go into its mouth, you’re done for, and if you get close, you’ll be attacked. It’s a creature that sets traps and waits, so it won’t attack first. Just don’t get close.”

“But don’t we have to get close?”

For Serena and her party to return to the stairs, they inevitably had to pass in front of the monster.

If the abyss moved slightly, it would be perfect for swallowing the party in one go.

“I’ll use attack potions.”

All the attack potions using fire essence had been used, but there were still attack potions mixed with other elemental essences remaining.

If he used all the single-attribute attack potions, it seemed like they could defeat the abyss.

When Count Randy tried to take out attack potions from his bag, Olive waved her hand.

“No need to waste them like that. Princess, send a goblin into its mouth.”

“Then it’ll be eaten by the abyss?”

“That’s why we’re sending it to be eaten.”

Serena commanded with her will, making the goblin enter the stone chamber.

Even when the goblin entered the room, the abyss didn’t close its mouth.

It was waiting until the treasure chest was touched.

When she commanded the goblin to touch the treasure chest, the goblin followed the order.

The moment the goblin tried to open the self-luminous treasure chest.

Thump!

The stone chamber door—no, the Treasure Box Abyss’s mouth closed.

The color of the wall near the stone chamber changed, and a hideous fish monster that looked like a tadpole, just as Olive had drawn, appeared.

The abyss twisted its pitifully small body compared to its massive head and moved toward the center of the flowing sewer.

“Everyone stick to the walls!”

The party pressed against the walls as the guide instructed.

The abyss that had moved to the center of the sewer splashed dirty water in all directions as it moved toward the waterfall.

It didn’t seem to notice the party pressed against the walls and paid them no attention at all.

The abyss moved away making splashing sounds.

“Is it gone? You can move away from the walls now.”

When the sounds stopped, Olive signaled that it was safe to move away from the walls.

“That’s probably the strong enemy of the 6th floor. Since it’s not aggressive, let’s just avoid it and go around.”

There’s no real benefit to defeating strong enemies anyway, so there’s no need to fight them.

But Serena had become curious about something and asked the guide a question.

“Couldn’t we easily defeat it by attacking inside its mouth when it has its mouth open?”

Rather than going around avoiding it, wouldn’t it have been easy to defeat it by feeding it attack potions and attack magic when it was vulnerable like just now?

At the princess’s question, the guide shook her head with a reluctant expression.

“Ah~ no, no. The big mimic has strong defense against both physical and magical attacks inside its mouth. Even if the knight cut it with his magic sword, it would probably just get slightly cut and that’s it. If you want to hit it, you have to hit the outside, but it’s fast despite that size.”

The guide spread her hands wide and moved them up and down.

“Like this, it opens its mouth wide and jumps to try to swallow people. Since it’s easy to dodge, it’s best to just ignore it.”

“I see. That wasn’t written in the books. Thank you for telling me.”

‘So it sets traps like that because it’s fine even when attacked from inside its mouth.’

Serena’s monster knowledge increased by one.

“Besides, try fighting that size in this narrow sewer. Even if it doesn’t attack and just rolls around, we’d all be crushed. If you want to catch it, you have to do it in a wide area.”

“You even know information about such amazing monsters. You’re incredible, Miss Olive!”

Ralph sent admiring looks at the guide’s knowledge gained from experience.

Olive didn’t want to miss this opportunity and lifted her chin proudly.

“I’m pretty good~”

“The trust that was damaged by the hole incident has recovered a little. Keep doing as you are now.”

“Hey~ if you’re going to recover it, fill up everything that dropped~”

Olive complained while walking toward where the Treasure Box Abyss had left.

A passage had been revealed after the abyss departed.

The guide knocked on the wall and flicked her fingers a few times, then nodded.

“The path seems short? Let’s stop by.”

Since they hadn’t found the stairs going down yet, they could visit any short paths.

Following the guide, Serena saw a new stone chamber and a treasure chest placed inside it.

It wasn’t another Treasure Box Abyss that had appeared.

“There are tons of treasure chests!”

As Ralph said, there were indeed tons of treasure chests of various grades inside the stone chamber, roughly over twenty by estimate.

From common to rare.

Ralph’s lips curved upward, seemingly pleased by the situation with so many treasure chests.

Serena observed her surroundings more calmly than the knight.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

‘Found it.’

Thanks to what she had learned earlier, Serena quickly discovered what she was looking for.

“That one’s a mimic.”

“Princess, correct! By the way, only exactly two of the treasure chests here are real treasure chests!”

“You mean all the rest are mimics?”

“That’s right!”

“Hah, I got my hopes up a bit.”

Ralph had apparently imagined excitedly opening twenty treasure chests, so he drooped his shoulders in disappointment.

There were a total of twenty-two treasure chests in the stone chamber.

Of these, twenty were mimics and only two were real treasure chests.

“We can get twenty magic stones, so it’s not bad.”

Though it was disappointing they weren’t treasure chests, the magic stones that mimics provided were of good quality.

The alchemist was pleased to be able to obtain high-quality magic stones.

“Since it’s come to this, let’s find the real treasure chests while training our observation skills! To whoever says the correct answer first~”

Olive winked at the party.

“I’ll give a good reward! Ge!”

Though the guide had enthusiastically heated up the atmosphere, the party’s reaction was cold.

The princess corrected the reward.

“To whoever gets the correct answer fastest, I’ll give the reward of being able to open both treasure chests.”

“Really? I’ll search diligently!”

“That’s motivating.”

“Ah! That was the reward I was going to give too! It wasn’t anything weird! Yo!”

Though the guide protested while stamping her feet, the party’s gazes were fixed on the treasure chests and didn’t look at the guide.

Olive pouted her lips and acted sulky, but still blocked the entrance to prevent the party from entering the stone chamber.

“You know mimics are dangerous if you get close, right? Yo? Stand here and search.”

Ralph found the game of distinguishing between mimics and treasure chests fun, while Count Randy participated actively, burning with scholarly enthusiasm.

Serena also didn’t want to accidentally touch a treasure chest and get eaten by a mimic, so she diligently observed the treasure chests in her own way.

Olive quietly approached such a princess and made what was half-soliloquy, half-not.

“The party right now is so~ good. The knight is kind and sincere, the count is smart and capable, I already knew Zero does the work of multiple people~ And the princess is~”

Since Serena knew the reason the guide was leading up to something, she refused outright.

“You said the labyrinth conquest ends here.”

“No~ this time it’s not about that~”

Olive smiled brightly.

Though she had shown various unseemly behaviors, she was undeniably bright and fresh.

“I’m really glad the prince isn’t part of such a good party~ Don’t you think so too, Princess?”

‘She knows I’m wary of the prince. Well, she’s been showing she noticed from the beginning.’

In the early days when Prince Willow joined the lobby, Serena had shown her discomfort because he tried to freeload off her achievements.

The problem was.

‘Now it’s not that uncomfortable anymore.’

Due to the curse Serena had unintentionally cast, Prince Willow became unable to leave the lobby, greatly reducing his position and influence.

Since he was no longer a match for Serena, the princess no longer guarded against the prince.

‘But Olive is still doing so. Why?’

“If~ the prince ever makes you uncomfortable, tell me anytime. I’ll clean things up neatly for you.”

Serena clearly saw killing intent flash and disappear in Olive’s green olive-colored eyes.

Ying, who sensed the bloodlust, turned her head toward Serena, then confirmed nothing was wrong and returned to the other party members.

“Kyahat! I’m on the princess’s side~”

Olive winked and left Serena’s side.

If the foul smell wasn’t keeping her reason in check, it was fatal enough that she might have mistaken her heart beating from fear and tension as beating because of the person called Olive.

‘Indeed, Winds of the Wilderness. If it weren’t me, I might have fallen for it.’

But who was Serena? She was someone who lived holding Philia, the greatest beauty of Huji, and Seraph, her sibling who coveted that title, in both hands.

She was a person who had lived grasping the two greatest flowers of Huji in both hands.

The seduction of an ordinary beauty couldn’t penetrate Serena’s iron wall.

To break through Serena’s iron wall, one would need something like High Priest Hazel’s warm embrace.

Thinking of the high priest’s comfortable, warm, and cozy embrace made Serena’s heart peaceful.

‘Is it not because of the unfair contract, but personal grudge?’

The guide hated the Empire. She hated it very much.

Serena marked this newly learned personal information about her companion with a star for its importance and filed it away in the drawer of her mind.

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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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