Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 165

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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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165. 25th Floor of 7th Layer of Heuji’s Labyrinth Assault (3)

 

‘What would have happened if I had touched the fake statue?’

 

Since it was an anomaly characteristic of the 7th Layer, there was a high possibility that nothing would have happened.

 

However, since it was specifically a ‘statue,’ it felt unpleasant, like chewing tea leaves while drinking tea.

 

‘I’m glad I noticed before touching it.’

 

The Princess put the unpleasant feeling behind her and examined her assigned area to find the anomaly in 4th Square.

 

‘I’ve checked all the past problems. Olive and Ying, who have sharp eyes, are doing the picture comparison.’

 

The Princess’s orange single eye, which had been quickly scanning her assigned area, fixed on the mirror shop.

 

‘I keep getting bothered by it, so I end up checking it.’

 

Serena picked up a mirror and reflected the square in it.

 

One of the Princess’s eyebrows rose as she confirmed the world inside the mirror.

 

“I found an anomaly!”

 

“What what? Really?”

 

“The mirror doesn’t reflect the dolls.”

 

Perhaps intending to make it unnoticeable at a glance, all the clothes the dolls were wearing and the hats they had on were reflected in the mirror.

 

Only the dolls themselves, the actual bodies, were missing from the world inside the mirror.

 

“Only the faces and hands are completely empty~ If I had just glanced while passing by, I wouldn’t have found it.”

 

“Like the fake statue, I wouldn’t have discovered this one either! As expected, Princess, you’re amazing!”

 

“Hmm.”

 

Serena hid her dissatisfied feelings and smiled gently.

 

She hadn’t looked closely at either the statue or the mirror specifically to find anomalies. That’s why even though she had discovered anomalies, Serena didn’t feel satisfied.

 

‘Anyway, I found 2 anomalies. This should be enough for my share.’

 

It wasn’t like this was a game where rewards were given based on contribution to labyrinth conquest, but she kept worrying about her conquest contribution because this was reality.

 

‘If I can’t do my part, others will suffer that much more. I need to do at least my share.’

 

Having discovered the anomaly, the assault team moved forward.

 

When the Guide opened the door, all the wooden dolls in the square simultaneously turned their heads to stare at the party.

 

“Ugh. Again? We already defeated the soldier automaton!”

 

Olive hurriedly tried to close the door, but the Archer’s hand grabbed the door.

 

“No.”

 

“What do you mean no?”

 

Ying pushed past the Guide and entered 3rd Plaza.

 

Some of the wooden dolls turned their heads to look at Ying.

 

Perhaps because they were dolls with freely moving joints, some dolls even rotated their heads a full circle like owls.

 

The dolls didn’t attack the Archer who was right nearby, but only watched.

 

Intently.

 

“They’re not attacking?”

 

“Aha. This must be the anomaly of 3rd Plaza.”

 

“That’s a relief.”

 

Serena, who didn’t have confidence to use lightning magic again, genuinely felt relieved and patted her chest.

 

“Then since we found the anomaly, let’s move forward. Yeah.”

 

As the party that had entered 3rd Plaza began to move, the gazes of all the wooden dolls there focused on the party.

 

The dolls continued to stare at the party, turning their heads as the party moved.

 

It would be scary even if people were watching like this, but since eyeless dolls were watching, even Serena, who was used to people’s gazes, felt a chill down her spine.

 

“Even though they have no eyes, I can feel their gaze. Honestly, it’s a bit scary.”

 

“They’re just dolls after all. I’m more scared that if I had closed the door earlier, we would have had to start over from the 10th floor. Yeah.”

 

Ralph also seemed to think that was scarier, as he made a face like a puppy that lost its mother.

 

The secretly timid Young Knight seemed to want to change the mood, so he immediately switched topics.

 

“When I made eye contact with the wooden dolls, I only thought we had to fight, but how did you know they had no hostility, Ying? Was it experience?”

 

“That’s right. Zero, how did you know?”

 

The Guide, who was also curious, asked the same question while keeping his hand on the door handle.

 

“Uh,”

 

“Don’t say the darkness told you.”

 

“….”

 

When the Loyal Servant of Darkness closed her mouth, Olive tried to turn the door handle.

 

Then the Archer’s lips moved slightly.

 

“Experience is right.”

 

“I knew it! I’ll work hard too!”

 

“Experience is important~ If you roll around in labyrinths as much as Zero, you’ll immediately know whether there’s fighting spirit or not~”

 

As Olive tried to turn the handle, Ralph stopped her.

 

“Please wait a moment! I have one more question!”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Olive, you said from the beginning that Ying has a longer career, right?”

 

“Yeah. Zero is my senior.”

 

“I heard that you’ve also been a Labyrinth Explorer since you were very young, so how long is Ying’s career?”

 

“Why are you asking me that? Zero is right here.”

 

When Olive pointed at the Archer, Ralph answered confidently.

 

“I asked, but she didn’t answer.”

 

Usually when you ask a question and the other person doesn’t answer, you assume they don’t want to answer the question.

 

But who was Ying?

 

The incarnation of taciturnity and silence, whose vow of silence would have been marked in days rather than hours on a necklace.

 

There was a high probability that she had kept her mouth shut not because Ralph’s question was unpleasant, but simply because she didn’t want to talk.

 

‘Ralph must think the same way, which is why he asked Olive again.’

 

Olive seemed to think the same way, as she wasn’t offended.

 

“It doesn’t seem to be a secret, so I’d like to tell you. Actually, I don’t know very well either.”

 

“You don’t know?”

 

“Even when I was younger than you, Knight, Zero was already famous by the name Ying, so her career is definitely long. But I don’t know the details. What’s certain is….”

 

The Guide pointed at Ying’s classical, elegantly lined, marble sculpture-like face without a single wrinkle and grinned.

 

“Zero’s face is exactly the same as it was 10 years ago.”

 

“What?”

 

“10 years?”

 

The party couldn’t hide their surprise at Olive’s words, but Olive continued speaking.

 

“I saw her in passing about 10 years ago. She was exactly the same then as she is now. Yeah. But also.”

 

The Guide shrugged.

 

“It’s not unusual among adventurers who frequent the deep layers of labyrinths. Yeah. I told you there’s a time difference in labyrinths. Time and space are messed up, so it’s common for there to be a big difference between apparent age and real age.”

 

Coincidentally, Heuji’s Labyrinth had a gimmick that made Olive’s words easy to understand.

 

It was the crystal on the 4th Layer where half a day passed in the lobby with each strike.

 

“Even I’m probably older than you think, Knight.”

 

Olive pointed at herself with her thumb while grinning.

 

“Wow. Labyrinths are really scary.”

 

Labyrinths make not only the labyrinths themselves but even the Labyrinth Explorers who explore them into mysterious beings.

 

Even though it was a fact she already knew, it felt new every time.

 

The Guide shrugged and opened the door.

 

As if reflecting the fact that the anomalies discovered so far had been easy, the party couldn’t easily find an anomaly in Plaza 2.

 

They checked past problems, compared with pictures, and examined their assigned areas.

 

The blue sky gradually darkened and the red sunset began to roll in, but the party couldn’t find any notable anomaly.

 

It would be dangerous if night fell like this.

 

Should they judge that there was an anomaly and advance before night fell?

 

Or should they judge that there was no anomaly and turn back?

 

The party stood at a crossroads of choice.

 

It’s a fifty-fifty chance, but if you choose wrong, you have to start over from the 10th Plaza.

 

Olive, perhaps feeling the weight of responsibility, approached the Princess.

 

“Princess. You decide.”

 

The guide’s voice trying to pass responsibility to the party leader was heard once more.

 

“Princess. You decide.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“The words are being heard twice?”

 

“The words are being heard twice?”

 

“Is this the strange phenomenon?”

 

“Is this the strange phenomenon?”

 

“Damn! It was an easy one!”

 

“Damn! It was an easy one!”

 

The party, tense about approaching Plaza 1, had kept their mouths shut and focused so intently on finding the strange phenomenon that they hadn’t noticed.

 

Plaza 2’s strange phenomenon was words being heard twice – a very easy type to discover.

 

“We lost out by being too serious!”

 

“We lost out by being too serious!”

 

The group advanced while listening to the guide’s complaints that were twice as noisy due to the words being heard twice.

 

In the room before Plaza 1, the guide suggested taking a rest.

 

“The flow has been good up to here. Very good. The flow is good so we should continue, but what happens if you ride the flow too much?”

 

Ralph, remembering the story of a party that went deep into the labyrinth on the 6th Floor because the flow was good and got wiped out, answered immediately.

 

“It’s dangerous!”

 

“Exactly. You get swept away. Let’s catch our breath here.”

 

“Right. Let’s rest a little.”

 

“Ugh, I’m dying~ Using my brain when I’m not used to it is killing Olive.”

 

As soon as the Princess permitted the rest, the guide plopped down and massaged her head.

 

“Please have some dried fruit.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

The party ate dried fruit and sandwiches made by Prince Willow.

 

Since hunger was the best seasoning and they were truly delicious, they devoured them in the blink of an eye.

 

“Once we clear the 25th Floor, we can get tea, cake, sandwiches, and ingredients. I’m looking forward to it.”

 

“If we try to take things openly, the guard dolls will chase us, so do we have to secretly steal like that directionally-challenged person did? How annoying~”

 

“By directionally-challenged, you mean Miss Hana?”

 

“What else would I call someone who’s directionally-challenged?”

 

Olive had the strange habit of not calling people by their proper names and calling them whatever she wanted.

 

‘She did the same thing to Lavenda.’

 

“The doll clothes and accessories are valuable, but should we sweep everything away with Count’s attack potions and just take the shop items? Or should we first strip all the accessories, wallets, and weapons?”

 

While the thief planned her thievery, the Knight planned for battle.

 

“So the 7th Layer ultimately has no Floor Bosses?”

 

“If what Hana said is true, it seems that way.”

 

“On the 8th Layer, she said books attack people, but how should we fight books? Are they weak to fire?”

 

“They’re likely carnivorous books, but there are many types of monsters disguised as books, so we’ll have to see them directly.”

 

Count Randy stroked his chin.

 

“More than that, I’m concerned about her saying it was full of books. When a labyrinth has many books, there’s a possibility that precious books are hidden there. Among the alchemy books that turned the world upside down, quite a few came from labyrinths.”

 

Just as labyrinth treasures possess functions that cannot exist in the world, among labyrinth books there are books with unclear authors that contain new principles or knowledge.

 

Count Randy’s eyes lit up with excitement just talking about books.

 

“I hate labyrinths with lots of books because there’s nothing to gain. But Count likes them, huh.”

 

“If you search well, there are expensive books, so isn’t it fine?”

 

“You don’t know what expensive books are. The guys who can recognize what expensive books are go ‘Ah, that book on that bookshelf!’ ‘No way! That out-of-print book!’ and run over excitedly, but.”

 

Olive suddenly cut off her words and continued in an ominous tone.

 

“They don’t come back.”

 

The guide’s gaze was as cold as if she had chopped up several corpses.

 

It was clearly a warning directed at anyone who could recognize what expensive books were.

 

The alchemist gulped.

 

“I absolutely won’t act alone.”

 

“Who said anything? That’s just how it is~”

 

“Ahem, I wonder if Hana, Duri, and Sesi are doing well.”

 

“Of course they should be doing well! They can see all the monsters and traps, and they have a bear too!”

 

Growl! Olive roared like a hungry bear angry at an unfair world and crunched on an apple.

 

Having taken a substantial rest, Heuji’s Labyrinth 1st Team attack group maintained their tension and opened the door to Plaza 1.

 

The long-awaited Plaza 1. The party raised the corners of their mouths as soon as they opened the door.

 

Plaza 1 was different from the 10th Plaza, where the entire plaza was the original.

 

If the 10th Plaza was in the middle of a festival, then Plaza 1 was.

 

“Holding a funeral.”

 

All the wooden dolls wore mourning clothes, and even the guard dolls patrolling the plaza had black cloth tied to their arms and spears.

 

Instead of cheerful music, a solemn funeral march played, and mourning flags fluttered in the sky instead of colorful banners.

 

The party slowly stepped into the plaza.

 

Walking among the crying dolls felt very burdensome.

 

“It’s easy to understand, which is good, but the atmosphere is…”

 

“It seems there was a great tragedy in the country. Like Heuji City after Heuji’s tragedy. Ahem!”

 

Count Randy quickly apologized.

 

“I’m sorry, Lady Serena.”

 

“It’s fine. I was thinking the same thing as you, Count.”

 

The Count was right. After dozens of people with Huaim’s blood died, Heuji City’s atmosphere must have been exactly like this.

 

“The atmosphere is dark, so I feel strange. Let’s pass through quickly.”

 

“Yes!”

 

The Princess and her companions quickened their pace and opened the door.

 

Inside the room were stairs leading downward. They had successfully cleared the 25th Floor of the 7th Layer of Heuji’s Labyrinth.

 

[You have discovered stairs leading to the next floor. Shop 1 coins are awarded.]

 

Unfortunately, there was no treasure chest, but it was fine.

 

The entire 25th and 24th Floors were like treasure chests anyway.

 

“Well then, shall we get to work.”

 

Self-proclaimed Treasure Hunter, called a guide by industry colleagues. Sometimes moonlighting as an assassin is a se-cret!

 

But her true identity is right right right right!

 

She’ll prove that while there may be no predetermined seeds for kings and nobles, there are definitely predetermined seeds for thieves!

 

Thief Olive rubbed her fingers together and declared the start of operations.

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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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