Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 157

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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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157. Pest Control (5)

 

Serena, who had been sleeping soundly, woke up sensing an ominous presence.

 

‘What is it?’

 

She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but it was unpleasant nonetheless.

 

‘Why do I feel so disgusted?’

 

Serena hurriedly checked her physical condition.

 

‘I was sleeping well and nothing hurts. My mana flow is normal too.’

 

But the unpleasant feeling continued to irritate Serena.

 

‘Is it because I’m tired?’

 

The Princess went outside the capsule to drink water and stretch.

 

Today’s night watchman was sitting in front of the campfire.

 

Today’s night watchman was Prince Willow.

 

Originally, he was exempt from night watch duty like Serena, but since the curse prevented him from leaving the lobby, he pleaded to at least do this much and was allowed to stand watch.

 

Prince Willow was gazing at the campfire with mysterious blue-gray eyes that looked like they were sprinkled with stardust, then turned his head upon sensing someone’s presence.

 

“Can’t sleep?”

 

“No. I came out to drink water. Is everything alright?”

 

“Nothing happened.”

 

Regardless of nothing happening, Prince Willow seemed to have something to say to Serena and stood up hesitantly.

 

“Your Highness Serena. Perhaps.”

 

“Mm. Will, give me some warm water.”

 

A child’s voice interrupted the Prince’s words.

 

Grey stuck his upper body out of the capsule with a drowsy face and waved his hand.

 

“Will, I said give me water.”

 

Grey, who was about to scold the Prince for not giving him water despite waiting, shut his mouth when he spotted Serena.

 

The Old Man, now fully awake and rolling his eyes, made an excuse.

 

“Haha, I have severe sleep tantrums.”

 

Grey smiled brightly as if a child’s smiling face was invincible.

 

Serena pretended not to notice since his cheek muscles twitching was pitiful.

 

“Princess and young master are awake? Yo?”

 

Following Grey, Olive also woke up and waved at the Princess and Prince.

 

“Did you wake up because of our conversation?”

 

“Mm~ No! I suddenly woke up feeling strange, and when I opened my eyes, the Princess and young master had similarly woken up, right? I was wondering about it. Yo.”

 

Hearing Olive’s story, Serena frowned.

 

“You too?”

 

“Yes! Princess, you also got up sensing something, right? Yo?”

 

“I also got up because I felt strange somehow.”

 

Grey also said he woke up from an inexplicable unpleasant sensation.

 

If it were just Serena alone, it could be dismissed as mood, but three people waking up for similar reasons?

 

There must be a reason for that.

 

Grey came out of the capsule with a serious expression, and Olive also came down from on top of the capsule.

 

“Your Highness. Was there nothing suspicious?”

 

“No. Nothing happened.”

 

Three people felt ominous and woke up, yet Prince Willow, who was actually on night watch, felt nothing.

 

Prince Willow, thinking he had done something wrong, spoke urgently.

 

“Really nothing happened. Not even a mouse passed by,”

 

“Monster! Eek!”

 

Thud!

 

This time, a peculiar way of speaking and the sound of something colliding interrupted the Prince’s words.

 

Hana burst out of the capsule where the loud noise came from, carrying Neet.

 

“Monster! Enemy! Must run away!”

 

Hana tried to flee toward the exit while carrying Neet, but remembered the exit was blocked and panicked.

 

Neet remained asleep, apparently very tired even while being carried by Hana.

 

People began waking up one by one from Hana’s noisy commotion.

 

“Sister Hana, you’re loud.”

 

“Ung.”

 

“Sesi! Enemy! Duri, snap out of it too!”

 

“Enemy? Where?”

 

Sesi looked around in surprise, and Duri ran to the bear hide laid out near the campfire.

 

Duri put on the bear hide that was still damp from not being fully dried and transformed into a bear.

 

“Roaaaar!”

 

A giant bear roared in the middle of the lobby.

 

The bear looked around for enemies threatening the family, but there were no monsters in the lobby.

 

“Did sister Hana have a bad dream?”

 

“No! Monster is definitely nearby!”

 

Serena observed Hana’s condition as she continued to ramble incoherently.

 

Her eyes were clouded, perhaps her body, which had been trembling with anxiety and tension on the 7th Floor, was intoxicated by the brief sleep.

 

“Hana. Calm down.”

 

“There! There it is!”

 

Hana pointed to one side of the lobby with her face contorted in fear.

 

Serena decided to check it out and looked in the direction Hana was pointing.

 

There was luggage that the Number Siblings had brought.

 

“What. I guess it really was a bad dream?”

 

Olive, who had been watching with an excited expression, crossed her arms as if disappointed.

 

Serena thought the same, but somehow Sesi’s reaction was strange.

 

“Enemy? For real? I-if you’re lying, I won’t forgive you, sister!”

 

“Cough cough! Sister Hana is scary!”

 

“Don’t tell me you locked a wooden doll in that chest?”

 

Could they have brought a moving doll outside the labyrinth to use in performances?

 

Before the Princess could finish speaking, the chest rattled.

 

Thud! Thud!

 

The sound of knocking on walls came from inside the chest.

 

Perhaps because it was thinner than expected, the chest lid broke and a hand so white it looked bleached appeared outside the lid.

 

The fingers were grotesquely bent and the nails were broken or cracked, dangling loosely.

 

Without touching it directly, she was certain the hand would be cold as ice.

 

“Aaaaah!”

 

“Kyaaaah!”

 

“Uuung!”

 

“Cough cough!”

 

The Number Siblings lost their reason the moment they saw the hand emerging from the chest.

 

Hana fled to a corner of the lobby while holding Neet and trembled, and Sesi stuck close to her sister, repeatedly asking to be saved.

 

Duri covered such family members with her giant body and bared her fangs while growling.

 

Thick saliva dripped from the mouth of the very excited Duri.

 

Crash!

 

The chest lid completely shattered and a blood-soaked man rose from inside, bending his joints grotesquely.

 

The man’s pupils were completely dilated, murky, and leaking dark red energy.

 

The man’s chest was torn by something sharp, exposing the interior.

 

The wound was so large it seemed like it would separate completely if touched with a finger.

 

The man held murderous intent in his murky eyes and clacked his teeth together.

 

His gums were black, all his teeth were long and pointed like fangs, and his tongue hung down to his chin.

 

In short, the man was not alive.

 

There was an undead inside the chest.

 

The Number Siblings had brought a chest containing an undead to the lobby.

 

‘This is insane.’

 

Undead. Since there was still plenty of flesh attached to the corpse, let’s just call it a zombie for convenience.

 

One zombie came crawling out of the chest with sluggish movements.

 

The zombie revealed its murderous intent and threatened the living beings gathered in abundance.

 

Kyaaaak!

 

“Kyaaaak! We’re sorry!”

 

“Please spare us, don’t kill us!”

 

“Hiiik, cough! Cough cough! Kugh!”

 

“Grrrrrr.”

 

Hana and Sesi were so startled they looked ready to faint, and Neet was so shocked she couldn’t breathe properly.

 

Serena decided to postpone pursuing the culprit of the lobby undead incident and deal with the zombie first.

 

‘So that’s why I felt disgusted. I was sensing the undead’s aura.’

 

There was only one and it wasn’t a strong undead, so she had only felt vaguely disgusted.

 

Grey and Olive, who had awakened from sleep due to the ominous feeling like Serena, also looked refreshed as their questions were resolved.

 

“I hate undead, so I’ll leave it to someone else~”

 

“I, I’ll handle it!”

 

Ralph stepped forward with his sword drawn, but his fear was clearly evident.

 

Serena didn’t blame the young knight.

 

‘It’s not a fake monster from the labyrinth but a real person who died and became undead. It would be difficult for Ralph to face.’

 

The young knight who loved justice could mercilessly swing his sword at villains, but was weak against ordinary people.

 

To Ralph, the suddenly appeared zombie was closer to a moving deceased person (a stranger), making it difficult to swing his sword.

 

“Count Ralph. Leave it to me.”

 

A pleasant voice intercepted what Serena was about to say.

 

Prince Willow’s sword, who had been staring blankly at the campfire, pierced the zombie’s neck.

 

The prince separated the zombie’s head from its body without a moment’s hesitation.

 

Grey spoke to the prince in a monotone voice.

 

“Your Highness, what did I tell you to do when facing undead?”

 

“I know.”

 

The prince swung his sword, targeting only the zombie’s joints.

 

The prince’s sword cut the zombie’s wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles in succession.

 

Perhaps because it was a magic sword, it was as easy as cutting cheese.

 

Finally, the prince thrust his sword into the mouth of the zombie rolling on the floor, splitting its jaw, then sheathed his sword without a single drop of blood on it.

 

“Not something to see before bed.”

 

Prince Willow shuddered, perhaps finding the zombie’s aura unpleasant.

 

“As the night watch, I should have known and dealt with it beforehand. I’m sorry I didn’t.”

 

The prince bowed his head as if truly ashamed.

 

Serena shook her head on behalf of everyone in the lobby.

 

“It’s not the prince’s fault. The criminals who brought the undead to the lobby are separate.”

 

Serena looked coldly at the Number Siblings huddled in a corner of the lobby.

 

The Number Siblings gradually calmed down once the zombie stopped moving, only sniffling, but trembled again upon seeing the cold orange eyes.

 

“So then.”

 

The Number Siblings’ deed had so many clues that even Philia could grasp the situation.

 

‘They killed the leader and stored the corpse in a chest, then brought it to the lobby.’

 

She could guess the reason for killing, but why did they get caught carrying around the corpse, the biggest evidence of murder?

 

Serena suppressed her urge to beat her frustrated chest and spoke solemnly.

 

“Do you have anything to say?”

 

When the princess gave them a chance to speak, Hana, who had been prostrating and trembling, stepped forward.

 

“I killed him!”

 

Sesi also raised her head.

 

“That’s not true! Hana unnie is lying, I killed him!”

 

“Uuuung!”

 

“Cough! That’s all lies. I did it.”

 

The Number Siblings confessed that each of them had killed the person, trying to protect their family.

 

Before being moved by their deep affection, Serena pointed out reality.

 

“If you say that, you’ll all be charged as accomplices to murder. Tell the truth properly.”

 

“Heuuk!”

 

The Number Siblings embraced each other and sobbed with shaking shoulders.

 

Again, Hana was the first to speak.

 

“Everything we told the princess was true. We only left out being with the leader.”

 

Though it was already known, the zombie’s identity was now certain.

 

It was the leader who ran the troupe the Number Siblings belonged to.

 

“Sob, at first we were surprised and panicked. The leader hit us while telling us to do something about it quickly.”

 

Though Neet had conquered the 24th and 25th floors with her excellent memory, the Number Siblings couldn’t go anywhere.

 

Both the lower and upper floors were blocked by monsters.

 

“We couldn’t leave the floor we first fell to. Fortunately, there was a bread tree and fountain so we didn’t starve to death. But.”

 

One day, all the bread disappeared from the bread tree.

 

“The leader got angry saying we picked the bread and hid it. But it was unfair. My siblings and I never hid any bread.”

 

“The leader made Hana unnie pick bread and ate all the bread she brought. When there was no bread on the tree and unnie couldn’t bring bread, he said he’d eat Duri unnie. Heuuk. He said if unnie didn’t bring food, he’d eat Duri unnie.”

 

“Good heavens.”

 

Ralph gasped at the outrageous story.

 

When Sesi couldn’t continue speaking due to tears streaming down, Hana continued.

 

“Fortunately. There was a cafe and peddler’s stall, so we secretly stole food from there. But if the amount of food decreased noticeably, the monsters would notice and chase us. We could only steal little by little. The amount was small, so there wasn’t enough for Duri and Neet. We could have shared by saving, but the leader took everything! He said Neet was useless so he’d abandon her, and told Duri if she wanted to eat, go up or down and fight monsters.”

 

“My goodness.”

 

Lavenda covered her mouth at the leader’s character.

 

She didn’t cover it in surprise but seemed to be muttering that he deserved to die.

 

“I felt sorry for Duri and Neet constantly starving. So I secretly gave them food. But the leader caught me and beat me.”

 

“He didn’t just hit you.”

 

Olive added.

 

“He whipped you, right? When I saw you washing, there wasn’t a single uninjured spot due to whip scars.”

 

“He whipped a person? A child?”

 

Ralph ground his teeth in indignation. He seemed to want to curse but was holding back since the person was already dead.

 

“Duri unnie transformed into a bear to get hit less painfully while protecting Neet. But she had been starving for too long…”

 

The starving and angry bear swung its front paw at the leader.

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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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