Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 134

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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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134. Heuji’s Labyrinth 6th Floor Strategy (2)

Serena’s party gave up on the left path that had become impassable due to lack of oxygen and chose the right path.

When they had traveled as far as they had progressed on the left path, Count Randy pointed at the flowing water.

“There’s a mermaid over there! She’s uglier than my wife!”

Maybe an undead mermaid could live in this filthy sewage water. Though doubting whether a real mermaid would live there, they investigated just in case, but it was a bust.

The party except Count Randy exchanged glances and also retreated from the right path.

Back at the crossroads, the guide scratched his head.

“Both sides are blocked. There’s no other path.”

The party’s intellectual was still in a dazed state as his brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen.

Serena fanned Count Randy’s face with her hand while pondering how to break through the path.

“Since both sides lack oxygen, something like an oxygen tank.”

“What’s an oxygen tank? Yo?”

‘Don’t they have those here?’

Serena didn’t know, but wouldn’t there be magic that could substitute for oxygen tanks?

The Princess asked the alchemist, who was gradually regaining his senses, if there was similar magic.

“I’m not sure. Master back in the lobby would know.”

Count Randy, lacking oxygen to his brain, couldn’t lie and spoke the truth.

‘I’ll have to ask Grey.’

Even the taciturn archer shook his head.

The party suspended exploration and entered the water reservoir to return to the lobby.

The water reservoir that had been filled with stagnant, putrid water had drained continuously, exposing the bottom.

Since the contents had been something putrid, sediment that didn’t drain with the water remained thickly accumulated on the bottom, and its color, shape, and smell were extremely disgusting.

As Serena tried to move to the stair room without looking at the bottom since it was harmful to mental health, Ralph’s voice stopped her.

“Isn’t the center there bulging?”

“It’s probably just garbage piled up~”

“It’s too bulging for that.”

“Ugh.”

Though distressed, Olive went down to check what Ralph had pointed out.

“Ugh. It’s dirtier and smellier up close. Princess or Count! Spray some water here! Yo!”

Serena responded to Olive’s request by dropping a water mass onto the sediment in the center of the water reservoir bottom.

Where the dirty garbage was washed away by the water, gold glinted.

“It’s shining!”

“This is a sparkly sparkly sparkly sparkly chest!”

Hidden beneath the filthy garbage was actually a magic-grade treasure chest!

Serena hurriedly went down to the water reservoir bottom and sprayed water on the treasure chest.

Perhaps due to weak water pressure, it was impossible to clean the entire treasure chest.

The best she could do was barely wash the area near the lid that could open the chest.

“Ugh, this is the first treasure chest in my life I don’t want to open. Yo.”

Though it was a magic-grade treasure chest, the filth covering it diluted expectations for the reward.

The guide skipped his usual ritual before opening treasure chests (excitement, shouting desires) and opened the treasure chest with a gulp.

Then he immediately let go and trembled all over.

“My hand! My hand is rotting!”

“You’re wearing the pendant, so you’re fine. Act your age.”

Olive was at least in her mid-twenties. Ying’s age was hard to gauge, but she was also at least in her mid-twenties.

Count Randy was 22, two years older than Philia, so Olive was among the elders in the party.

Even Ralph, the youngest member, acted mature, but Olive behaved like a child except when making dirty jokes.

At the Princess’s criticism, Olive quickly squeezed out tears.

“Princess doesn’t know! Olive’s sister always says she’s a cute little sister! A tiny youngest baby! Yo!”

“Then go act cute with your sister.”

“Waaah~ I’m going to tell sister that Princess is bullying Olive!”

Serena ignored the pretend-crying guide and examined inside the treasure chest.

There was one magic stone inside.

“It’s a high-grade magic stone.”

“Hmm.”

Though high-grade magic stones were valuable, it was a bland reward for something from a magic-grade treasure chest.

Count Randy, who bent down to pick up the magic stone instead of the Princess, saw glinting lines inside the magic stone and removed his goggles.

“This is!”

“What’s wrong? Is it not an ordinary magic stone?”

“The magic stone has magic circuits carved into it.”

They couldn’t tell because it was just a magic stone alone, but it was a magic tool.

“It’s a magic tool? Yo?”

Olive, as if she had never been sadly crying, squeezed between the Princess and Count with normal eyes and interfered.

“What kind of magic is imbued in it? Yo?”

“I’m not Master, so I don’t know just from looking at the circuits.”

Count Randy pushed the party back and injected mana into the magic stone.

This way, they could confirm what magic was imbued in it.

The magic stone glowed softly in response to the external mana, but nothing happened.

Both the Count and the area around the magic stone remained quiet.

“Did something happen?”

The young knight tilted his head. The Count furrowed his brow and injected more mana.

The light emitted by the magic stone grew stronger. And nothing happened.

“Hmm.”

Just as Count Randy was about to say he’d have to ask Master.

The guide raised her hand to cover everyone’s mouths.

“Everyone be quiet, stay still. Yo.”

“Did you figure something out?”

“Shh. Stay still. Count, keep injecting mana. Yo.”

Count Randy continued injecting mana into the magic stone as Olive said.

Olive sniffed around while circling the Count, then snapped her fingers.

“I know what it is! The air tastes good!”

“The air.”

“Tastes good?”

When the party members looked puzzled at this hard-to-understand expression, the guide provided additional explanation.

“You noble folks who always breathe clean, fresh air might not know! But someone like me who crawled around at the bottom can tell! Yo! The air tastes good!”

“So.”

Serena interpreted the guide’s words based on her experience working in heavily polluted big cities.

“You mean it’s easy to breathe? The feeling where just a little breath fills your lungs and goes straight to your brain?”

“Princess! That’s exactly it! Yo! As expected of an educated person!”

Serena finally became certain of the magic imbued in the magic tool and nodded.

“That magic stone has magic imbued to generate fresh air.”

At the Princess’s words, everyone sniffed in unison.

“Certainly, it should smell terrible, but it’s not like that near the Count.”

“Fresh.”

The taciturn archer also seemed to like the fresh air and gave a thumbs up.

“With this, we don’t have to worry about oxygen? Yo?”

“It seems that way.”

A breakthrough had opened to traverse the blocked path, so they couldn’t ignore it.

Serena and her party canceled their retreat and decided to re-enter the left path that had been their original target.

But before that.

“It’s inconvenient to carry around like this, so it would be better to fix it somewhere. Lady Serena, may I borrow your staff for a moment?”

“Here it is.”

Count Randy separated the magic stone from Serena’s staff and inserted the air-generating magic stone into the empty slot.

“The quality of this magic stone is better too, so it should be easier to use.”

The Princess obtained a portable air purifier and oxygen generator.

***

Splash splash. Squelch squelch. Trudge trudge.

Making different sounds depending on the floor’s humidity, the group walked through the dark and filthy sewers.

But they didn’t suffer from the auditory and visual hallucinations that had tormented the party before.

This was because the magic stone embedded in the magic staff Serena held supplied fresh air to the surroundings.

“The stench seems weaker too! Yo!”

“I don’t see human heads anymore either!”

The leading duo, who were thoroughly enjoying the effects of their newly acquired magical tool, spotted a Labyrinth Alligator.

The two excitedly charged at the Labyrinth Alligator.

Instead of swinging its tail or opening its massive jaws wide, the Labyrinth Alligator crouched down.

Crackle crackle crackle!

It scattered electricity around itself. The electricity spread through the water and instantly attacked the leading duo.

“Damn it! That startled me!”

“Ugh!”

Ralph fled out of the water in surprise, while Olive leaped up and jumped over the Labyrinth Alligator, plunging her dagger into its crown.

“Miss Olive, are you alright?”

“I’m fine! How about you, Knight?”

“I was startled too, but I’m not hurt.”

Serena clearly saw the leading duo get hit by the electric attack, but surprisingly, both were unharmed.

The reason was quickly revealed.

“Wow. Good thing we made shoes from alligator leather. This doesn’t conduct electricity.”

“It does conduct, but very weakly!”

When using electric attribute attacks in water, the attacker also takes damage.

Perhaps because of this, Labyrinth Alligators had high electric attribute defense, and equipment made from Labyrinth Alligator leather also had high electric attribute defense.

Throughout their time wandering the 6th Floor, the party had been plagued by doubts like ‘We’re going to get soaked anyway. Why did we go through the trouble of making shoes?’

After facing Labyrinth Alligators that used electric attacks, the party finally realized the true purpose of their new shoes.

Wow! Electric resistance!

“Good thing we made the shoes!”

“Indeed!”

Ralph had even acquired new armor made from alligator leather.

The Young Knight wasn’t afraid of the alligator’s fearsome teeth, powerful tail attacks, or shocking electric attacks.

When only one Labyrinth Alligator appeared, Ralph fought alone, and when two or more appeared, Olive and Ying joined the battle.

The group that had been progressing smoothly was stopped by the guide at the front.

It was poison gas again.

“Wouldn’t it be fine since we have the air-generating magical tool?”

“It’s not possible since it’s magic that generates clean air, not purification or detoxification.”

While walking through the sewers, the group had spotted several holes they could potentially enter.

The guide decided to enter the closest hole among them.

“Let’s see~ how long is it, hmm!”

The guide, who had been peering into a hole in the sewer wall, quickly moved his body to the side.

A trident shot out from the hole and tried to retreat back inside, but Olive swiftly reached out and grabbed the shaft.

“Pull!”

Ralph helped the guide and pulled hard on the shaft.

The head of a monstrous creature covered in filth like a mud pack treatment popped out of the hole.

The monstrous creature tried to abandon its trident and flee before its entire body emerged from the hole, but it died after being hit by a bolt shot by Ying.

“What kind of monster is this?”

Its overall appearance was similar to a salamander, but it was large and hideous-looking, and perhaps because it crawled through sewer holes, it had all sorts of garbage stuck all over its body.

No one could readily answer Ralph’s question.

The archer alone retrieved her bolt and answered while wiping the filth off the tip.

“Lizardman.”

“Lizardman? The lizardmen I’ve seen weren’t this filthy.”

Lizardmen were a general term for bipedal lizard monsters equipped with their own shamanism and equipment.

Their appearance and habits varied greatly depending on their habitat environment.

In some regions, they would attack humans on sight to devour them, while in other regions, there were tribes that interacted with humans – the differences were vast.

“And aren’t its legs a bit short?”

“Welsh Corgi and Poodle.”

“Ah~ I understand.”

Even though they’re both dogs, Welsh Corgis and Poodles have different leg lengths.

Olive immediately understood by applying this concept to lizardmen.

“You’d have to pass the 30th Floor for lizardmen to appear~ Lizardmen around the 20th Floor? Grade 8 is scary~”

The guide tried to kick the lizardman corpse with his foot, but gave up because the corpse was too filthy and scratched his head instead.

“Tsk, this is bad.”

Olive furrowed her brow and spoke seriously.

“When I saw it trying to escape earlier, it pressed its limbs against its body and tried to crawl like a snake. Crawling is faster for it. It’ll be hard to fight in narrow passages. Even if we win the fight, the corpse will block the passage. Yo.”

Fighting at the front would be somewhat better.

If attacked simultaneously from front and back, even after winning the battle, it would be very difficult to move the corpses and proceed.

‘We keep getting blocked.’

Indeed, being past the 20th Floor, the exploration progress wasn’t smooth.

Like a toilet clogged with wet wipes, they kept getting blocked.

While the two Labyrinth Explorers discussed what to do, the alchemist who had been examining the lizardman corpse while covering his nose looked up.

“It’s fine to proceed as we are.”

Count Randy took off his filth-covered gloves and rinsed them in the water.

“I know these creatures’ weakness.”

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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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