Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 140

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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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140. Friendship Event (2), King of the Sewers (1)

 

The Guide vigorously opened the door and entered the room with the pond.

 

Though their appearance was a mess from falling into dirty water, their expression was bright.

 

“Princess! Please purify us quickly! Yo!”

 

“Bugs.”

 

“Right! The pond below the waterfall was crawling with bugs! Ugh! Good thing only we went! Yo! I wouldn’t want the Princess to fall into a bug pond either~”

 

Olive and Ying waited at the doorway, not wanting to contaminate the spring with their dirty bodies.

 

Serena hurriedly pretended to purify them while shielding Count Randy from their view, especially Olive’s.

 

While the Princess bought time, Count Randy would be able to manage his expression.

 

As Serena wholeheartedly purified them, grateful that only the two had suffered, she noticed the pendant imbued with purification magic.

 

Having consumed all its mana from entering the dirty waterfall again, the magic stone’s light was dim as if about to go out.

 

“This won’t be usable anymore.”

 

Exploring the next floor, the 23rd Floor, seemed to be the maximum progress for this expedition.

 

‘We’ll just confirm the waterfall leading to the 24th Floor and that’ll be the end.’

 

“Ah~ It’s okay, it’s okay! Yo!”

 

Olive smiled brightly even after hearing that the pendant, which was the lifeline of the 6th Floor, was losing its effectiveness.

 

Of course, there was a reason for everything.

 

“The next floor is the last of the 6th Floor!”

 

The Guide delivered the welcome news to the three who had been waiting in the pond.

 

“Really?”

 

“Is that true?”

 

“Ho.”

 

The faces of the three brightened at the welcome news they heard.

 

Even after being purified, Olive washed their body in the spring water, feeling uncomfortable, and shared the information obtained from the 23rd Floor with the party.

 

“Went down the waterfall and opened the stairs. When I tried to look at the path, there was a door blocking it. Yo. It was a barred door so I could see inside clearly, and it was a wide plaza.”

 

And in the middle of the wide plaza, a monster presumed to be the Floor Boss was waiting for adventurers to open the door and enter.

 

“The 21st Floor and 22nd Floor both had no Floor Bosses. But if there’s a boss on the 23rd Floor, there’s a high probability it’s the last floor, right? Though sometimes it’s not the case. Yo.”

 

Ying, who had been dunking and shaking her head in the water, pulled her face out and spoke briefly.

 

“Stratum Boss.”

 

That seemed to be all she had to say, as Ying stuck her head back into the water.

 

“Right. As Zero said, if it also serves as a Stratum Boss, it’ll be stronger, so we need to prepare before going. Yo.”

 

The Guide informed the party members of what each needed to do.

 

“Princess should meditate to restore mana, and Count should also rest well while meditating. Yo. The night watch will be in the order of Knight, Zero, and me. Don’t forget to spray water on the holes in the wall when on watch!”

 

Olive subtly put the Archer in the most tiring shift, but Ying didn’t complain.

 

“Do you have any information about the boss monster?”

 

“It looked like a Labyrinth Alligator. Yo.”

 

“A Labyrinth Alligator…”

 

Count Randy nodded and excluded electric-attribute potions from the offensive potions he had attached to his belt for easy access.

 

“Since there’s water on the floor, remove fire too. Yo.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Good at finding paths, extensive knowledge about labyrinths. Even fights well.

 

Perhaps feeling sorry for suspecting such a helpful companion, Count Randy couldn’t meet Olive’s eyes.

 

Unfortunately for the Count, Olive seemed to have noticed something suspicious and wore a sinister smile.

 

“What? I’m getting a feeling. Did you badmouth me while I was gone? Yo?”

 

Count Randy tried to cover up his suspicion of the Labyrinth Explorer with silence.

 

“N-no!”

 

Count Randy, who had done wrong, stayed quiet, but Ralph jumped in and failed.

 

“Huh? I was just joking, but Knight’s reaction is suspicious? Did you really badmouth me? Is that it? Yo?”

 

“Sir Ralph. Please be quiet. Ahem. We didn’t badmouth you, we just briefly talked about what amazing Labyrinth Explorers you two are.”

 

“That’s not it? It was badmouthing, wasn’t it? Because my ears were itching a bit? Yo? You really badmouthed me? Yo?”

 

Count Randy deflected quite smoothly.

 

“Really not. Rather, it’s suspicious. Are you certain that others will definitely badmouth you when you’re away? If so, shouldn’t you examine your usual conduct?”

 

“That’s not it? My ears are really itching though?”

 

‘This is difficult.’

 

Watching the two confronting each other, Serena was troubled, not knowing whose side to take.

 

‘Count Randy’s suspicion is reasonable. I trusted Ying, not Olive.’

 

But suspecting a companion exploring the dangerous labyrinth together wasn’t something to be praised.

 

One was a loyal retainer.

 

The other was hired for money but was a companion trying to escape the labyrinth together.

 

While Serena pondered whose side to take, surprisingly, the matter ended anticlimactically.

 

“Bug.”

 

“Right! As Zero said, my ears were itching like a bug had entered! Yo!”

 

“Bug.”

 

“Yes! One with many legs like this! That kind of bug! How much did you badmouth me that it’s still itching! Yo!”

 

“It’s a bug.”

 

Ying, perhaps angry at being continuously ignored, placed her hand on Olive’s shoulder.

 

“It’s a bug.”

 

“Why do you keep saying the same thing? I’m busy right now…”

 

Olive’s face hardened as they thought of an unfortunate possibility from Ying’s persistent attitude of saying the same thing.

 

The color drained from their dark brown skin.

 

“Really. A bug?”

 

The Archer nodded at the Guide’s question asking if a bug had really entered their ear, not as a metaphor.

 

“Ear.”

 

A bug had entered the ear.

 

Olive went berserk as soon as they heard those words.

 

“Kyaaaah! Hey! Zero! You should have said that quickly! Ugh! The killer bug is eating my brain!”

 

Olive made all sorts of fuss, causing a commotion trying to remove the bug that had entered their ear.

 

Ralph and Count Randy were also flustered.

 

“Don’t dig in your ear with your finger! It might go deeper!”

 

“Stay still! The safest way to remove a bug that entered the ear is to knock it out or kill it first!”

 

Olive, who heard the intellectual’s words, glared at Ying.

 

“Zero! You’ve been dunking your head in the water this whole time!”

 

Ying avoided the Guide’s gaze and hopped in place to get the water out of her ear.

 

Serena caught Olive who was running to dunk their head in the water.

 

“Stop. You stay still, and Count Randy, take out some alcohol. Drop a few drops in the ear and the bug will die, then we can remove it.”

 

A moment later, Count Randy extracted the corpse of a long bug with many legs from the Guide’s ear.

 

Olive shuddered upon seeing the bug.

 

“No wonder my ear was so itchy with this thing in there! Count, sorry for the misunderstanding. Yo.”

 

“No, Olive. Actually, we did badmouth you. If Olive hadn’t stepped up, bugs like this could have entered my ears too. Sorry for badmouthing you.”

 

“Next time, don’t do it when I’m not around, badmouth me to my face. Yo. Promise!”

 

“I promise.”

 

The Guide and Alchemist made an agreement to insult each other face-to-face rather than talking behind backs.

 

Before the battle with the Floor Boss, the party’s trust level increased.

 

Serena smiled faintly with a premonition that the battle with the Floor Boss would also go smoothly.

 

***

 

The assault team that had slept by the pond had a simple breakfast and warmed up their bodies.

 

Since they were about to face the Floor Boss, everyone seriously warmed up their muscles.

 

The Princess, who had stimulated her muscles that had loosened slightly from crawling on all fours the previous day, faced a crisis where she couldn’t get up.

 

Fortunately, she had stretched diligently the night before, and Olive and Ying had given her a quick massage they learned from Lavenda, allowing her to grit her teeth and endure.

 

“How’s your mana, Princess?”

 

“It’s sufficient.”

 

The Labyrinth naturally had dense mana concentration, and the spring was a place rich enough in mana for fairies to inhabit, making meditation highly efficient.

 

“If everyone’s ready, let’s go!”

 

By operating the handle, the water’s direction changed and the waterfall had dried up.

 

Serena and her party descended the stairs that the Guide and Archer had opened in advance, arriving at the 23rd Floor.

 

The 23rd Floor was exactly as the Guide had described.

 

The pond below the waterfall was teeming with unidentifiable bugs, and there was a barred door in the direction the water flowed.

 

The Leader’s Chamber visible through the bars was wide and empty.

 

Water from the pond flowed shallowly across the floor of the spacious plaza-like Leader’s Chamber.

 

The water level reached up to their ankles, but they had to consider the possibility of deeper areas.

 

Once Serena had mentally prepared herself, Olive opened the barred door.

 

In the center of the Leader’s Chamber, a massive monster sat with its eyes closed.

 

The Leader’s Chamber was spacious entirely because of the Floor Boss’s enormous size.

 

A giant Boss Labyrinth Alligator, over five times larger than the Labyrinth Alligators roaming the 6th Floor, sensed their presence and opened its eyes.

 

‘It’s a dinosaur, what the hell.’

 

The Labyrinth Alligators were already dinosaur-like enough, but the Boss Labyrinth Alligator was ten times worse.

 

‘I’ll die if it even grazes me.’

 

As Serena resolved to run around desperately, Ying attacked without warning.

 

Thwip!

 

A bolt aimed for the Boss Labyrinth Alligator’s eye.

 

The massive Boss Labyrinth Alligator couldn’t dodge the bolt and reflexively closed its eyes.

 

The bolt stuck in its eyelid but couldn’t penetrate through.

 

When the alligator opened its eyes, the bolt moved along like an eyelash.

 

The monster, apparently angered by the first strike, raised its massive body and opened its mouth wide.

 

Kraaaak!

 

Electricity flowed from the Labyrinth Alligator’s entire body.

 

The electricity spread through the water on the floor, covering the entire Leader’s Chamber.

 

Serena’s spine went cold.

 

What if the party hadn’t made shoes from Labyrinth Alligator leather with strong electrical resistance?

 

‘That attack just now would have wiped us out.’

 

The Boss Labyrinth Alligator, which had been lying flat on the floor before fully rising, looked even more threatening with its massive size.

 

The Boss Labyrinth Alligator opened its enormous maw that could swallow three or four people at once and charged at the party.

 

If this were a game, subtitles like 【Emperor of the Sewers】 Alligator Rius would have appeared with majestic battle music.

 

But since this was reality, no subtitles appeared. Naturally, there was no dedicated background music either.

 

The party scattered in all directions, splashing dirty water.

 

Clang!

 

Labyrinth Alligators have poor eyesight and hunt prey using sound and vibration.

 

Ralph struck his enlarged shield to focus the monster’s attention on himself.

 

Olive paced nearby to draw the monster’s attention after Ralph.

 

While the front duo distracted the monster, the rear trio moved behind the alligator.

 

Ying threw an attack potion she received from Count Randy near Alligator Rius’s tail area.

 

The Archer shot a bolt to break the bottle before Alligator Rius could swat the potion bottle away with its tail.

 

Bang!

 

When the potion bottle shattered, frigid cold swept through the entire Leader’s Chamber like a blizzard.

 

All the water on the Leader’s Chamber floor froze, and Alligator Rius’s limbs stuck to the ground.

 

The alligator’s tail, hit by the cold, froze solid and became completely stiff.

 

“Count, you’re amazing!”

 

Could it be that like on the 5th Floor, the Alchemist’s single potion would defeat the boss?

 

The party’s faint hope shattered along with the sound of breaking ice.

 

Crack, crunch!

 

The Emperor of the Sewers, Alligator Rius, who had been frozen momentarily, broke the thin ice covering its entire body and began to move.

 

It pulled its four legs free from the floor and shook its body to clear away the thin ice.

 

Its completely frozen tail swung around with ice still attached.

 

“Duck!”

 

The ice chunks attached to the tail flew directly at the party members behind the alligator.

 

Serena, Count Randy, and Ying quickly dodged, but it was impossible to avoid all the ice chunks pouring down like hail.

 

An ice fragment hit Serena’s temple as she ducked her head a half-beat too slow.

 

Serena’s heart nearly stopped from the shock.

 

Without her goggles, she would have injured her only eye.

 

Count Randy crouched faster than the Princess, but unluckily a large ice chunk struck his head directly.

 

The Count staggered from the heavy impact.

 

Ying seemed to have no intention of dodging the flying ice chunks, not even flinching at the sharp ice that cut her cheek as she drew her bowstring.

 

The arrow that left the string reached the tip of the alligator’s frozen tail.

 

As the ice shattered, the alligator’s tail broke off and fell with it.

 

Serena expressed her confusion at the logically incomprehensible sight.

 

“How?”

 

Despite being at some distance, Ying somehow heard and answered.

 

“I aimed for the grain.”

 

Even aiming for the grain, was such a thing really possible?

 

Serena briefly wondered, but seeing Ralph enduring the alligator’s front claw strike with his whole body and Olive flying around stepping on the floor and walls, she accepted it.

 

After all, this was a fantasy world where gods and magic truly existed.

 

If you could cut rocks by swinging a sword desperately, then shooting a bow desperately should let you split ice too, right?

 

Kraaang!

 

There wasn’t time for long thoughts anyway.

 

Because Alligator Rius, with its tail severed, ignored Ralph and turned around.

 

“Potion.”

 

“Ugh, here. Take it.”

 

Ying received an ice attribute attack potion from Count Randy, who was suffering from his head injury, and threw it again.

 

When the bolt pierced the bottle, frigid air swept through the Leader’s Chamber once more.

 

The Labyrinth Alligator, as if refusing to be caught twice, recovered faster than before and discharged electricity.

 

The electrical attack covering the entire Leader’s Chamber shattered the ice covering the floor and the monster’s surface.

 

However, its back, which had been close to the cold’s epicenter, remained frozen.

 

“Aim for the grain.”

 

Ying left Serena with advice that didn’t sound like advice, then ran far away.

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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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