Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 16

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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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16. Total Annihilation (1)

“The stairs are steep. Please be careful.”

Serena went down the steep stairs, holding her long skirt with one hand and gripping the wall with the other.

If there were traps on the walls or stairs, it would be the perfect way to die.

‘In games, it’s standard for stairs to have no traps. But in movies, it’s standard for stones to roll down from above or for stairs to turn flat.’

Which would be the standard in this harsh reality!

Her heart pounded nervously until she stepped on the last step, but there were no traps. Serena let out a sigh of relief.

After going down the stairs, there was immediately a path. A winding single road stretched out, and there was no lobby-like space like on the 1st floor.

“The atmosphere has changed a bit.”

“It’s quite dark.”

The 2nd floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth was darker than the 1st floor. It was almost as dark as night illuminated by dim moonlight.

“This is expensive stone.”

Though it looked like the interior of a stone building just the same, unlike the 1st floor made of rough stacked stones, the stones on the 2nd floor were white and had smooth surfaces.

“Be careful not to slip.”

“Yes, Lady Serena.”

Though she didn’t specify who she was talking to, fortunately the person who needed to understand responded.

The group alternated between looking at the stairs and the corridor, then cautiously moved into the corridor. Having come all the way down the stairs, it seemed wasteful to go back up without gaining anything.

“What I desire is bright light.”

Serena recited the incantation to create a light that would follow the caster. Then the corners and ground that had been hidden in darkness were clearly revealed.

“What’s that?”

“What’s there? My eyes are dim so I can’t see well.”

The stones were white, making them easy to overlook carelessly, but transparent, thin threads could be seen in corners and all over the floor. The threads were positioned everywhere like a net to catch victims.

Seeing their distinctive shape, Serena immediately knew what they were.

“Spider webs.”

People knowledgeable about spiders can identify spider species just by looking at web patterns, but there was no such spider expert among the group.

Ralph swept away spider webs in the corner with his wooden sword. He touched the spider web and was startled.

“The stickiness is incredible. It would be dangerous to step on them.”

“Spider webs are that strong?”

Ralph showed the group his thumb and index finger stuck together and wouldn’t come apart. When Ralph applied force, they did separate, but threads stretched stickily between them like stretched adhesive.

“Then will spiders come out here?”

“They’re not poisonous spiders, are they?”

Spiders that hunt with webs don’t have poison, or so they say. As you can tell from ending with “or so they say,” it’s a baseless story.

‘I did watch spider documentaries, but I don’t remember anything.’

Since this was a different world anyway, spider behavior would be different too. Most importantly, what appeared in labyrinths weren’t ordinary arthropod spiders but monsters.

“Let’s go a little further.”

Serena and the group advanced carefully, avoiding stepping on the spider webs on the floor. If they accidentally stepped on spider webs, Serena and Philia’s shoes would slip right off.

Ralph wore military boots, Krom wore boots, and Lavenda wore sandals with straps, so only the two women’s shoes kept slipping off.

It was fine when walking slowly, but if their shoes came off while running, they could fall. To navigate the 2nd floor, they needed improvements.

“We can tie them with string. I’ll tie them for you when we go to the 1st floor.”

“While we’re at it, I should also fix my hem. It’s too long and cumbersome.”

Whether using a kitchen knife or carving knife, she could tear it to shorten the length.

Since they had fled the Royal Palace in a hurry, they dressed simply enough to move around the 1st floor, but if they had dressed as usual, it would have been a disaster.

Small, pretty shoes, flowing and fancy dresses, sparkling and dazzling jewelry.

A princess’s basic equipment was optimized for the royal palace and truly inappropriate for labyrinth exploration.

“The path is a bit wider than the 1st floor.”

If the 1st floor corridors were wide enough for four adults to stand, the 2nd floor seemed spacious enough for seven or eight people.

“But the path is a bit strange, isn’t it?”

Rather than stretching out wide and straight, it was slightly diagonal and winding with corners, and walls protruded in places or there were oddly placed pillars.

These walls and pillars blocked the view and intercepted light from Serena’s orb of light, casting shadows.

It was the perfect structure for something to jump out from behind walls or pillars, from the shadows, for a surprise attack. Sure enough.

Screech!

“Ahhh!”

Ralph, who was walking in the lead, was attacked from above by a black object. Fortunately, Ralph struck the black object that attacked him with his wooden sword faster than he could scream.

Squeak.

The black object that attempted the aerial attack was a giant spider. Its cry sounded like a bird’s call, which was pointlessly cute and therefore disgusting.

The spider, similar in size to a Labyrinth Rat—in other words, about the size of a small dog—repeatedly contracted and extended the joints of its eight fuzzy legs on the floor.

Then suddenly it spread all eight legs wide and died. Seeing this sight, Philia staggered.

“Lavenda, support Countess Randy.”

Thanks to Serena’s advance instruction, Philia didn’t slam her head into the floor.

“It’s less durable than Labyrinth Rats.”

Ralph examined the labyrinth spider’s corpse and showed where he had struck it with his wooden sword. Its head was crushed, apparently killed in one blow.

Thanks to Ralph’s consideration, Serena made eye contact with the dead spider. The spider’s eyes, freshly dead with light still remaining, were quite large and clear.

Serena wanted to faint too. As a reincarnated person. More precisely, she endured with a commoner’s mental fortitude.

“Is it a poisonous spider?”

“I don’t know. I heard that big spiders don’t have poison…”

This also ended with “I heard,” and even trailed off without a proper conclusion. It sounded like another baseless story.

‘Tarantulas have poison and they’re huge.’

It was uncertain whether tarantulas existed in this world, but it was better to be careful anyway.

“If it has poison, it would be in its fangs, and spider fangs are over here…”

“If you don’t know well, don’t touch it. You might get pricked if you mess with it carelessly.”

“Understood.”

As Serena, Ralph, and Krom examined the spider corpse and chatted, Philia, who had fainted and awakened, furrowed her brow.

“Don’t tell me we have to eat spiders?”

Philia’s pearl-white face turned even paler. Philia clasped her hands together and desperately pleaded.

“I really hate spiders! I like rats! I’ll eat rats! Please let me eat rats!”

Falling into a labyrinth and eating rat meat was already terrible, but there existed an even deeper abyss!

Having glimpsed the abyss, Philia’s mental strength dropped rapidly. Serena gestured to return to the 1st floor.

They had learned what monsters appeared on the 2nd floor, so there was at least one gain, and as Philia said, they couldn’t eat spiders, so they needed to hunt rats for food too.

‘Let me just check what’s ahead.’

Serena sent the orb of light forward. She just wanted to check what would be there if they continued down the path.

But then.

“That’s!”

“It’s a door!”

There was distance and it was dark in between so it wasn’t clearly visible, but there was a door. She didn’t know if it was similar to the door where the Labyrinth Rat Leader had been, but anyway, it was a door with decorations carved on it.

“It looks similar to the door on the 1st floor, doesn’t it?”

“My eyes are dim so I can’t see well.”

“I’ll go take a look.”

“I can’t send light that far. I have to go too.”

If Serena went, Philia would go too, and Ralph couldn’t protect both of them alone, so others would have to go as well. In the end, all five decided to go only as far as near the door.

“It seems to be small in scale.”

“It might only look open but we might have to go around in a circle.”

After walking a bit, the path gradually widened and a large space appeared. There wasn’t enough lighting to see it all at once, but the walls were slightly curved.

‘Circular?’

Passages were sporadically opened in the walls, and there was another massive stone structure in the center. The door was attached to the structure in the center. The odd pillars were scattered throughout here as well.

“There are many paths here and there.”

“Let’s look at the door first.”

If this door was indeed the door leading to the leader’s chamber or stairs, there was no need to look around other paths.

Serena approached near the door. Like the leader’s chamber door seen on the 1st floor, something was carved in intaglio.

‘It seems similar but also seems different.’

It was still crude, making it unclear what form it was trying to represent.

‘It would probably show up better if we made a rubbing.’

“Do you think there’s a Floor Boss here too?”

“You mean there’s a boss spider?”

“If it’s a boss, it’ll definitely be a venomous spider.”

“What should we do, Lady Serena?”

If they were going to fight a Floor Boss, it would be right to prepare first.

“Let’s head back…”

Rumble.

Just as Serena was about to suggest they return, the sound of stone grinding against stone could be heard. Right nearby.

The door the party had been observing intently opened. It wasn’t a door that pushed or pulled. The door descended downward.

“Who touched the door?”

“Nobody touched it!”

“Then why did the door open?!”

As the door descended, the Floor Boss the group had been curious about revealed itself. Since the door opened downward, their eyes met before the Floor Boss’s full body was revealed.

Peek-a-boo.

A bull played peek-a-boo. These weren’t the innocent eyes of a friendly brown cow. Massive eyeballs, both whites and pupils, were bloodshot as they glared at Serena.

A monster with a bull’s head. The group immediately thought of one thing.

“It’s a Minotaur!”

“Run!”

A Minotaur. A powerful monster that the current party couldn’t handle even if they died and came back to life.

The party was thrown into panic, and without anyone taking the lead, they all turned around and fled.

For just a moment, Serena hoped that maybe like in games, there might be restrictions preventing monsters from leaving boss rooms.

Snort.

Once the door fully descended, the monster snorted as if preparing to charge. It seemed to mock her as if telling her to stop with the games.

The group all ran in one direction to return to the 1st Floor. From here to the stairs was a straight path with not a single corner. If the Minotaur charged, they would fall like bowling pins.

“Everyone scatter! We need to scatter and run!”

There was no way the panicked group could hear Serena’s words. Serena urgently grabbed Philia, who was the slowest and falling behind, and ran in a different direction.

Huff!

‘Damn it.’

Scattering to run would increase the party’s survival rate, but it would also raise the death probability for whoever couldn’t escape.

Once the door fully descended, the bull-headed monster kicked its hind legs a few times, snorted, then shot out like an arrow.

Its target was Serena and Philia, who were closest. With the mindset of saving at least one of them, Serena pushed Philia.

“You run that way!”

Fortunately, Philia understood Serena’s intention and ran in the direction Serena had pushed her. Perhaps she had been trying to make herself the bait since she was slow.

“Ugh!”

But Serena, who had been running frantically, failed to notice the spider web on the floor. Her shoes came off and her skirt and bare feet got stuck to the spider web, hindering her running and causing Serena to lose balance and fall.

“Lady Serena!”

Philia, who had been running in the other direction, came running back to Serena.

“You idiot! Run!”

As she fell to the floor, the vibrations she hadn’t noticed while running grew closer, and tremendous pain surged through her lower body.

She had been pierced by the Minotaur’s horn.

Her thigh was punctured and then her stomach was torn open. It hurt too much to scream. No, her lungs were punctured so she couldn’t scream.

‘I’m going to die like this?’

The vibrations grew distant. The Minotaur was running off to find other prey. Philia, who had been nearby, was lying near Serena, having been pierced by the horn at some point.

Her silver hair, always dreamlike and beautiful, was stained with blood. The sight of the pale maid submerged in a Pool of Blood with her eyes closed was beautiful like a masterpiece painting.

‘I finally. Got reincarnated as a princess. But I barely got to live. And I’m going to die like this?’

She felt utterly miserable, but her consciousness was gradually fading. The thought that this misery, resentment, anger, and sadness would simply disappear when she died was too heartbreaking.

With death right before her, she was afraid.

She had experienced it once, and even remembering it, it was still death. Death, which all mortals fear and avoid, worship and despise, but ultimately cannot escape and must embrace.

‘What will I be born as in my next life? I hope I’ll be a princess again.’

No, wait. Being a princess unexpectedly came with many responsibilities, so it would be nice to just be born as a rich family’s daughter. As long as she could spend money freely, it would be fine even if the family wasn’t harmonious.

‘Anyway… I don’t know… what a harmonious family… is like…’

Serena closed her eyes.

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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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