Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 183

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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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183. Please Do Not Damage the Books

A fishy smell.

Distinctly different from the fishy smell when eating meat, this was the stench of a predator that tears flesh, crushes bones, and drinks blood.

The sea of books had momentarily made them forget this was a labyrinth, but the fishy smell brought reality crashing back.

It was truly a smell that didn’t belong in a library. Even the smell of gunpowder would have been more fitting with books.

Instinctively feeling fear, Serena’s legs began to tremble.

Following the fishy smell, a terrible stench of blood began to waft over.

Serena even forgot to breathe.

The enemy had not yet revealed itself.

As the enemy approached, the smell it carried caused the party to lose their fighting spirit and freeze up.

“Wh-what…”

The Young Knight, unable to bear the bloody stench, moved his frozen jaw.

Ying covered Ralph’s mouth with her bandaged hand.

“Don’t make a sound. Don’t move.”

The Archer who warned the party turned on the magic lantern at the Knight’s waist.

Bright light from the lantern illuminated the area around the party.

When light is strong, shadows become deeper.

The fishy smell and bloody stench grew thicker. Similarly, from one of the bookshelf shadows that had grown darker than before, an eyeball glinted.

“Gasp!”

Count Alpha supported Count Randy who was about to fall over in shock.

Following the Archer’s warning, the party kept their mouths shut and didn’t move while anxiously rolling their eyes to stare at the eyeball that appeared in the shadow.

Glint, glint.

From within the shadow, one eyeball became two, then three.

The three eyeballs boasted fierce gleams like campfires, then suddenly rose upward.

It seemed like the shadow was taking form, but that wasn’t it.

Like a beast hiding for a hunt, something that had been hiding in the shadow emerged from it.

The monster had three eyes and was about the size of a small truck, but Serena thought size wasn’t very important.

Because the monster’s body swayed like shadows flickering in the light. It seemed to have no fixed size.

The only things with definite form were the three eyes and the vicious fangs protruding from its snout.

Serena’s legs, which had been trembling since smelling the fishy odor, completely lost their strength.

Count Alpha supported the Princess who was about to collapse to the floor.

Serena didn’t even have the composure to nod her thanks and gritted her teeth.

‘Ying! Is this right?’

She didn’t want to doubt Ying’s response, but this time she was truly curious.

‘Shouldn’t we be running to the stairs instead of keeping quiet and staying still?’

Would a monster with three eyes really not see the group just because they stayed quiet and didn’t move?

‘This time I’m really going to die!’

Serena truly prepared herself for death this time.

Grrrrowl.

A cry that was on a different dimension from Duri’s growling, one that stimulated the nerves of prey, was heard, and as Serena was prioritizing what questions to ask the Minotaur God, suddenly an unexpected sound was heard.

Bang! Pop-pop-bang! Thud-thud! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The loud sound of fireworks exploding came from somewhere.

Serena couldn’t determine the direction, but the monster seemed to know as it perked up what appeared to be its ears.

The three-eyed monster slowly walked toward the bookshelf’s shadow, then sank into it as if the shadow were water.

And the fishy smell and bloody stench that had been assaulting Serena’s nose also disappeared.

“Phewwww.”

The Guide released the tension from her entire body and loosened up limply.

The others also finally sighed or made groaning sounds as they began to move.

“What was that just now? I’ve never seen it before.”

Olive, with her extensive experience, asked about the identity of the three-eyed monster, saying she had never seen such a monster before.

“Shadow Tiger.”

Ying turned off the magic lantern and answered.

Count Alpha’s handsome face hardened upon hearing the Archer’s response.

“That monster just now was a Shadow Tiger?”

“Count Sirius, do you know this monster?”

The Imperial Knight’s handsome face crumpled completely.

“I’ve only seen it in the Knight Order’s records, this is my first time seeing the real thing. It’s written that physical attacks don’t work on it, it moves through shadows, magic attacks barely work either, and several subjugation teams were completely wiped out.”

‘Physical resistance and strong magic defense, plus it moves between shadows? How do you catch that?’

Olive voiced Serena’s feelings.

“Ugh. How do you catch that thing?”

“According to the records, Duke Pein subjugated it together with a special unit.”

“Even if it’s 8th rank, still. A monster that required the Empire’s Grand Mage to step in appears as a strong enemy? We haven’t even reached the 30th floor yet? Are you crazy?”

The Guide poured out complaints furiously, then looked up at the Archer.

“Zero! You seemed to know about the three-eyed tiger too. Have you encountered it in the labyrinth?”

“I’m curious too. According to Knight Order records, Shadow Tigers are very rare monsters with few sighting records. Did you see it in the labyrinth? Or outside the labyrinth?”

Ying answered calmly.

“70th Floor.”

“What?”

“Fought it as a Stratum Boss on the 70th Floor. Eight parties formed an alliance.”

“There was such a big battle? Why am I hearing about this for the first time?”

A large-scale raid where as many as eight parties of deep labyrinth explorers capable of reaching the 70th floor of the labyrinth formed an alliance.

Olive was puzzled by news she was hearing for the first time despite her long career as a labyrinth explorer.

Such a raid, whether successful or failed, should have been talked about in industry circles for decades, yet Olive was hearing about it for the first time.

“Hmm~ This industry does tend to hide things to monopolize them.”

Olive recalled the peculiarities of the labyrinth industry and didn’t pry further. Instead, she asked something else.

“So? Did you win?”

The Archer reported calmly again.

“Everyone was wiped out except me.”

“Damn it!”

Olive said it sounded unlucky just hearing about it, picked her ear, and pretended to spit in the Archer’s direction.

Despite the rude behavior right in front of him, the Archer only raised an eyebrow slightly and didn’t protest.

“Th-then did you survive that time too by not making noise and staying still?”

Ralph, the youngest of the group who took the longest to recover from his fear, asked with bright, curious eyes.

“Right. Wouldn’t running to the stairs be faster than staying still? It would have been dangerous if we hadn’t heard those fireworks.”

“That’s not correct. Shadow Tigers can move between nearby shadows.”

If the party had fled to the stairs, the Shadow Tiger would have traveled along the party’s shadows to attack them.

Ying’s response had been appropriate.

Since her biggest question was resolved, Serena asked about the next thing she was curious about.

“Why did you turn on the magic lantern?”

“Shadow Tigers hate light.”

Count Alpha nodded in agreement.

“That’s true. The records also say Duke Pein used light attribute magic.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better to keep the lantern on continuously?”

At Ralph’s question, Ying narrowed her eyes and looked at the Young Knight.

“Hating something.”

“Yes.”

“If it doesn’t go away and keeps wandering around, it gets annoying.”

You might avoid mosquitoes or flies because you dislike them, but if those mosquitoes and flies don’t disappear and keep following you or hovering nearby, you have no choice but to pick up a fly swatter.

Ralph understood the Archer’s words and moved his hand away from the lantern button.

“Uaaaah.”

The Guide took off her leather helmet and roughly tousled her flattened ponytail with both hands.

“A monster that requires a Grand Mage to defeat the 70th Floor Stratum Boss appears as a strong enemy? We haven’t even reached the 30th floor yet? Are we all supposed to die or what?”

Since the party’s morale had dropped significantly, Serena logically pondered ways to boost their spirits.

“About the strong enemy. Wouldn’t it be fine as long as we follow the library usage rules?”

The labyrinth’s strong enemies were difficult to face, but each had methods to avoid them.

The shadow tiger appeared right after the book was torn. Wouldn’t it be fine if the party just followed the library usage rules properly?

“Lady Serena is right. I think so too.”

“What is it, a library guard or something?”

The Guide’s expression relaxed slightly as she recalled the method to avoid the strong enemy.

The unusually talkative Archer moved his lips again.

“Librarian.”

“What?”

“Wore glasses.”

The Archer said the shadow tiger was wearing glasses and made circles with his fingers, placing them on his forehead.

While the entire party was paralyzed with fear, the Archer must have been diligently observing the shadow tiger.

“Saying it’s a librarian just because it wore glasses seems a bit prejudiced.”

“Hey, if it wore glasses, it’s obviously a librarian. Its eyes were so fierce you couldn’t even look at them directly, so when did you see the glasses? Experience really does matter.”

Olive crossed her arms and nodded her head.

“If the tiger even wore glasses, it means it’s serious about its role. We probably won’t encounter it if we just follow the library usage rules.”

Of course, there was still a problem with this.

“But we don’t know rules 4 and 5! We only roughly guessed rule 3!”

The Guide dramatically despaired and collapsed on the floor crying.

“Miss Olive, please don’t be so sad. If we look around, there might be an intact information board.”

When Ralph gently comforted the crying Guide by shaking her shoulders, Olive lifted her round face without a single tear.

“I don’t know about information boards, but the fireworks earlier made it certain. There are other people here besides us.”

“They deliberately set off fireworks to lure the shadow tiger away for us! It’s truly something to be grateful for.”

“It must have been something they risked their lives to do. They seem to be someone with a very brave and noble heart.”

The two knights were deeply moved by the mysterious stranger.

“Your Highness the Grand Princess. Just as you bestowed grace upon me, couldn’t you bestow grace upon this mysterious stranger as well?”

“I told you that requires various coincidences and connections to align, didn’t I? And this time there’s no need to ask the gods. We’re already in the same labyrinth, aren’t we?”

Because they were in the same labyrinth, they could lure the shadow tiger with fireworks.

If they had been in different labyrinths, even if they confirmed each other’s existence through mirrors or other means, they wouldn’t have been able to interfere.

“It would be nice to meet them if possible. If they’re capable of luring that terrifying tiger, there’s a possibility they know all the library rules. At the very least, it means they’re confident they can escape.”

“Olive’s words make sense.”

“Right? Princess, traveling with you and the Count makes me feel like I’m getting smarter every day~”

“Above.”

“Did you discover something above?”

At the unusually talkative Archer’s indication, the entire party looked up.

Because the space was distorted, there was no ceiling, only upper floors and railings stretching endlessly.

“Fireworks sound. Came from above.”

“Really?”

“Is that true?”

The possibility that the mysterious stranger was on an upper floor increased, but the party currently didn’t even know how to leave the lounge, let alone find stairs going up.

Just as Assault Team 1 of the Labyrinth of Heuji was about to resume their investigation of the lounge that had been interrupted by combat, something fell from above.

“Take cover!”

The party quickly scattered.

Fortunately, the identity of the object that fell from above was something very light and harmless.

“Paper?”

Several more crumpled balls of paper fell down.

“Zero!”

Ying calculated the trajectory of the falling paper and aimed her crossbow.

Serena looked up in the direction the crossbow was aimed and frowned.

‘Golden?’

Somewhere on the distorted, endlessly stretching upper floor railing, something shining golden flickered around before disappearing inside.

‘Could it be?’

Suspicions always prove people right.

Ralph, who unfolded the first paper that fell, narrowed his brow and suddenly spoke.

“Get lost.”

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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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