Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 201

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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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201. The Labyrinth of Books (1)

“We’ll be back! Neet, study hard!”

“Cough, sister. Take care of yourself. Cough cough.”

“Woof!”

“If it gets dangerous, I’ll ride Concon and run away immediately.”

The 3rd Layer’s strong enemy had been restored. Since the Labyrinth Rat Leader and layer boss died around the same time, there was a high possibility that the bosses had been restored too.

The 2nd Group attack team always left in the morning and returned in the evening, so they had no combat experience with Labyrinth Bats.

So this time they deliberately planned a three-day schedule to experience various battles with 3rd Layer monsters.

All monsters that appear on the 3rd Layer are flying types. Serena worried that the combat difficulty might be too high for the Number Siblings.

But the two Labyrinth Adventurers considered the Princess’s worry unfounded.

“Bear goes ‘Roar!’ and swings his front paws, that’s one hit for everything.”

“Bear jumps up and catches flying birds too.”

As the saying goes about stupid bears, people think bears are sluggish animals, but actually bears are quick.

Low told them not to worry and left the lobby with the Number Siblings.

Behind the Number Siblings, Concon of who knows which generation waddled along following them.

“If Princess is ready, let’s get going too.”

The Guide stretched while gathering the 1st Group attack team. As the Princess was about to slowly rise from her chair, Grey approached her.

“Wait a moment, Your Highness. Please just listen to this report before you go.”

Grey’s business was to report to the Princess about the vending machine products that had changed as the 1st Group attack team reached new floors.

“I was going to report immediately when we returned, but the situation wasn’t favorable so I kept postponing it and it got late. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Following Pink Fungus’s death, Serena had completely forgotten about it too because of the suddenly appearing magic stone quarry.

“I suppose no important products came out?”

If important products had appeared, he wouldn’t be trying to report right before labyrinth exploration. Serena sat up straight in her chair and waited for Grey’s report.

“The vending machine products changed twice in total. The first product was this.”

The first product was snacks. It was a different type from the very first snacks that appeared, so they bought one, but knowing it was snacks, they didn’t make additional purchases.

“The second product is this. It seems to be food where you put fried noodles and powder soup in water and boil it to eat.”

Seeing the red package in the Old Man’s hands, the Princess’s posture became poor.

Serena was in an awkward half-standing position, as if about to lift her bottom from the chair, with her one eye wide open.

Fried noodles and powder soup. Red package.

The stimulating and spicy aroma that stimulated her sense of smell every time Grey handled it while investigating.

‘Ramen!’

The vending machine was actually selling ramen!

Serena’s heart beat harder than when she received a golden (not plated) dollhouse as a birthday present.

“This also wasn’t absolutely necessary, so we didn’t make additional purchases.”

‘Aaahhh!’

Grey had bought exactly one 5-pack of ramen. One was opened to confirm its identity, leaving 4 ramen.

She looked at the vending machine wondering if she could buy more, but the products had already changed.

The changed products were toothpaste and toothbrush. Since they could be obtained on the 7th Floor, they didn’t purchase them.

‘Aaahhh! Ramen!’

When she asked, the price was cheap too. If Serena had been there, she would have bought 50 packs, but she happened to be away and missed it.

‘Aaaahhh! My ramen!’

Unable to show her disappointment, Serena screamed internally.

Someone else showed the disappointment.

“The combination of noodles and soup was unique and addictive, so I said we should buy more, but Grey opposed it. Really regrettable. If we had that soup powder, we could give various variations to stews.”

Prince Willow, guardian of toilets and pots, expressed his regret. Grey clicked his tongue as if displeased.

“Tsk. We already have seasoning. Buying useless things is wasteful.”

As the attendant openly scolded the Prince, Count Alpha’s eyebrows twitched as he meditated with closed eyes before the labyrinth attack.

‘My ramen!’

Ramen was Serena’s life companion food that always stayed by her side whether it snowed, rained, or was windy.

The first dish Serena learned to cook was ramen, and the dish she was most confident in was ramen.

If coffee and carbonated drinks quenched Serena’s soul’s thirst, ramen quenched Serena’s body’s hunger and thirst.

To call such ramen useless! Serena rarely took Prince Willow’s side.

“It’s not wasteful. Isn’t the Prince working hard to provide us with nutritious and tasty meals with insufficient ingredients? In the labyrinth lacking entertainment, Prince Willow’s cooking is one of the few elements that lets us feel life’s pleasures.”

Grey’s ashen eyes flashed.

“Your Highness. If you enjoy fine dining, our Empire’s royal chefs…”

“From now on, when food comes out of the vending machine, consult with Prince Willow before purchasing. If it’s not too expensive, follow the Prince’s wishes.”

The Princess’s words, cutting off the attendant’s speech without mercy, brought mixed reactions.

“Oh! To think my cooking pleases you, Your Highness Serena! Though my skills are lacking, I’ll work hard from now on!”

“Mmm. Understood.”

“How about this? When we return from this exploration, I’ll make you a stew flavored with this powder soup, Your Highness Serena!”

“No. When we obtain more soup later, let’s all enjoy it together then.”

“Indeed! Your Highness Serena is so kind!”

‘There are at least 10 people, who are you kidding with 4 ramen packs. It’s better not to eat at all.’

What if Serena ate the ramen alone?

‘That would be too unconscionable. How could I do that.’

Ramen is a demonic food that makes you cry “just one bite” the moment you smell it, whether you’re full or have never eaten ramen before.

What happens when you give one bite? The person who ate just one bite naturally goes crazy from the tease, and the person who gave one bite goes crazy because the amount becomes awkwardly insufficient.

In that case, it was better to not eat at all and endure.

“Then let’s really go!”

Serena rose from her chair and picked up her bag. Ralph, who had been standing in front of the wall looking at the date Lavenda had marked, turned around and joined the procession.

’60 days have passed.’

There would naturally be some error, but two months had passed since the group was swallowed by the labyrinth.

Ralph’s four quadruplet nephews would all be past their 100th day, growing healthily.

‘Or maybe they haven’t reached 100 days yet.’

Time and space are distorted in labyrinths. Just because two months passed in the lobby didn’t mean he could be certain that exactly two months had passed outside the labyrinth too.

‘That’s probably why people still expect rescue teams to come.’

Especially the Imperial Citizens were convinced that rescue teams would come from outside. They seemed to trust the Empire’s military power.

‘Let’s think good thoughts. If we perfectly clear the 3rd Layer, we can upgrade the magic stone quarry too. Then we won’t have to worry about magic stones.’

The 3rd Layer was too wide and the paths were twisted, making perfect clearing difficult, but couldn’t that be solved somehow with Sesi’s ability?

The Princess entered the teleportation room while thinking only optimistic and positive thoughts.

***

Serena and her party arrived at the 28th Floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth’s 8th Layer.

Blood still remained on the floor where Shullen’s headless corpse had fallen.

Serena looked at the reddened carpet, then frowned and turned her head away.

Count Alpha, who came to use Shullen’s magic shield, seemed embarrassed as he unnecessarily fiddled with the shield.

The 3rd floor of the labyrinth library had bookshelves spread wide like the 1st floor again.

The difference from the 1st floor was the arrangement of the bookshelves.

‘It’s like a maze.’

Bookshelves larger than those on the 1st and 2nd floors were arranged like maze walls.

When Olive tried to climb on top of the bookshelves to look down at the maze from above and find a path, the bookshelves stretched high, ignoring the ceiling height.

Blocking shortcuts was similar to the 5th Floor.

-Is this not about finding misplaced books, but just finding the path?

-It seems so.

A notice board was attached at the starting point of the bookshelf maze.

It was a notice board with library usage rules written on it.

‘Don’t eat anything other than water in the library. Use the break room. With this, one remains.’

Usage Rule 4 was an item the party had been continuously cautious about.

The guide crossed her arms and boasted.

-Library rules aren’t much~ Should we visit a library when we leave the labyrinth?

-If you wish to use the Imperial Palace Library, I’ll write you a recommendation letter.

-Count, don’t you know jokes? Yo? What a boring person!

-My wife said I’m interesting!

-Your wallet must be interesting, Count! I’d find your fortune interesting too! Yo!

Written conversations take more time than normal dialogue. Count Randy’s poor handwriting made interpretation difficult, consuming even more time.

The conversation between the guide and alchemist was amusing, but Serena closed her notebook.

Count Randy apologized with an embarrassed face, and Olive entered the labyrinth with a grinning smile.

As soon as the party stepped into the labyrinth, labyrinth books rustled their pages and pulled themselves from the bookshelves, while labyrinth rats gnawing on books on the floor bared their yellow, hideous front teeth threateningly.

Squeak. Squeak squeak!

Rustle rustle!

Serena and Count Randy hid behind the bookshelves.

Olive and Ying dealt with the despicable labyrinth books that performed area attacks with basic attacks.

Now only the labyrinth rat remained. Though called a labyrinth rat, this rat boasting hideous front teeth was similar in size to the undead labyrinth rat leader that had tormented the first party on the 1st Layer.

Ralph approached the labyrinth rat on the floor with his shield covering his neck.

“Ha. Mmph.”

The young knight had a habit of shouting when attacking monsters. Fortunately, the young knight closed his mouth in time and cut the labyrinth rat’s throat.

‘It feels like yesterday we were trembling before the rat leader.’

The labyrinth rat leader on the 1st Layer was stronger than the labyrinth rats on the 8th Layer since it was undead and served as both floor boss and stratum boss, but their sizes were similar anyway.

Ralph dispatched such a giant labyrinth rat in one strike without giving it a chance to attack. Count Alpha didn’t even need to step in.

‘He’s grown.’

Time hadn’t passed meaninglessly. Though the number of stars remained the same, Ralph had grown remarkably.

Perhaps soon a fourth yellow star might shatter the gray star and sparkle above the knight’s head.

Serena patted Ralph’s shoulder with pride.

The young knight lowered his head and smiled, seemingly embarrassed.

As Serena walked through the labyrinth facing labyrinth books and labyrinth rats, she suddenly heard the sound of a dog barking.

Woof woof!

Since there couldn’t possibly be a dog in the library, the source of the sound wasn’t a dog but a monster that barked like one.

The guide quickly herded the group to where the bookshelves were arranged in a recessed formation.

Woof woof woof! Growl!

At that moment, a giant tooth book drooling ink instead of saliva pounced on where the group had been standing. The tooth book barely grazed the guide’s back.

Arf arf!

The tooth book barked roughly as if disappointed at missing the group, then was suddenly dragged away by a taut chain.

Olive, who had only poked her head out to confirm the tooth book’s position, drew a brief diagram.

The chain restraining the tooth book was attached to the wall, and when the tooth book lunged out, the chain would extend then instantly coil back, shortening the chain.

This time the chain was attached to the wall, making it impossible to wrap the chain around a reading desk like they had done in the 27th Floor reading room.

-We need to move while hiding so we don’t get bitten. Yo.

Whether it was the labyrinth’s intended gimmick, there were places within the tooth book’s attack range where the party could hide.

But they couldn’t just go recklessly.

‘Those kinds of places are perfect for setting traps or placing monsters.’

If they went without verifying safety first, it would be the perfect structure to die caught between the tooth book and other traps or monsters.

If Serena, who had only played games, could figure this out, what about labyrinth adventurers who made labyrinth exploration their profession?

-I’ll go check!

The guide stepped forward to confirm safety.

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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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