Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 213

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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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213. Choose What You Want from the Following Options (2)

“It’s a shiny box!”

High-grade treasure chest. One intermediate recovery potion came out.

“Aw. Not shiny again?”

Common-grade treasure chest. Here, a low-grade recovery potion came out, but perhaps because the floor was deeper, it contained as many as 5 bottles.

“Yes! Sparkly sparkly sparkly! This one’s for Olive!”

From the rare-grade treasure chest came not the expected weapons but two rings.

Neither gold nor silver, and without a single gem embedded, the plain copper rings didn’t match the rare treasure chest.

But Olive wasn’t disappointed and picked up the rings.

“I had a feeling they’d come out soon.”

“Are they magical tools?”

Rings are small and round, easy to lose. The Guide held the rings firmly with two fingers and showed them to the party.

“You don’t know, Knight? These are the rings that labyrinth adventurers use when proposing. There’s a legend that if you propose with these rings, you’ll never break up or have a change of heart.”

“Wow! How romantic!”

“There are such rings?”

“Oh, Count interested? Here? I’ll give you a good deal, so don’t miss this opportunity.”

“Don’t you need them, Miss Olive?”

Olive swept her short hair back and acted smugly.

“I’ve received so many that even wearing them on all ten fingers wouldn’t be enough.”

‘The legend doesn’t work though.’

More than ten people had courted the Wind of the Wilderness, but failed to capture the free-spirited wind.

The legend was false, so it was just an ordinary copper ring, yet Count Randy continued to show interest.

“Hmm. How much?”

“Heh. I’m in a good mood. Count and Countess who taught me a new concept of love. Especially considering the Countess’s beautiful looks, just 1,000 gold—”

“Ring of Fate. Increases the probability of encounters in the labyrinth. Comes out well, so it’s easy to obtain.”

The Archer disrupted the Guide’s business who had turned into a merchant.

“Zero! How could you say that!”

Olive glared at the business disruptor, but Count Alpha sided with the Archer.

“For reference, you can buy it for 10 gold in the Empire. I know because I received one as a gift from a friend when I got married.”

Count Randy’s gaze became sharp.

“Olive. Isn’t 100 times the price too much?”

“Aw. Count lives a hundred times, thousand times, ten thousand times better than others, so buy it expensively.”

“If that’s the case, why would there be fixed prices and market rates in the world! The Golden One I serve allows believers to overcharge others, but doesn’t allow being overcharged! If I lose the Golden One’s favor, wouldn’t that be inconvenient for Olive too?”

Count Randy receives the Golden God’s favor, so he has low transaction fees and can exchange items with good conditions on a 1:1 basis.

Olive, who had greatly benefited from Count Randy’s alchemy in the resource-scarce labyrinth, honestly apologized.

“Sorry. I’ll only overcharge by double from now on.”

“Is a check okay?”

“I usually only deal in cash, but since it’s between you and me, Count. Sure!”

‘Is double overcharging okay?’

Count Randy himself, being in a position to sweep up the continent’s gold, seemed willing to accept reasonable overcharging.

After finishing her joke with the Count, Olive handed both Rings of Fate to the Princess.

“You heard Zero’s explanation, right? Put your blood on this and give one to someone else, and the probability of meeting in the labyrinth increases.”

“I see. So adventurers use such magical tools to unite with each other in the labyrinth.”

The labyrinths in this world were almost like personal dungeons.

‘For that being the case, I meet Seraph and Richard quite often though.’

Probably blood relations played a role.

Looking at the reactions of experienced Olive and Ying, and other people, the possibility of accidentally overlapping with others in the labyrinth seemed very low.

‘So this is how labyrinth adventurers unite to defeat strong Floor Bosses or strategize together—they use these magical tools.’

“This is the most common one. There are many similar ones. I’ll lend it to Princess. I recommend giving one ring to Radish or Compass!”

The Guide recommended giving the ring to one of the 2nd group strategy team members, saying it didn’t have to be both.

When Serena asked for the reason, the answer was:

“4th and 5th floors will go to the same labyrinth as us since Radish is there, but from the next layer, the labyrinths might split. If we’re the strategy team, they’re the exploration team, so we should go to the same labyrinth, right?”

‘Even though we eat and sleep together in the lobby, the labyrinths can still split?’

The brave Young Knight who asks questions immediately asked Serena’s question for her.

“What? Aren’t Hana’s siblings and Low on our side? But the labyrinths still split?”

“Of course!”

Olive deliberately nodded her head greatly. The elegant deer-like Archer also nodded.

‘How petty.’

Serena ended it with “petty,” but it seemed to be shocking news for Ralph, who stuck out his tongue.

“Wow. The labyrinth is really… amazing.”

“Never a dull moment, right? This labyrinth is especially amazing.”

The Guide’s round eyes that winked at the Young Knight became sharp like daggers.

Olive looked around the room that had nothing but treasure chests, looked at the path that opened when the chests were opened, and finally made eye contact with the party.

“Originally, labyrinths have personality. They’re so diverse that I’ve never been to the same labyrinth twice. All different. But there’s one thing I realized while suffering terribly in labyrinths. Do you know what it is?”

The Guide’s atmosphere was unusual, so even the Young Knight couldn’t readily speak up.

So Serena stepped forward.

“What is it?”

To suppress the Guide’s deliberate atmosphere-setting, Serena also asked arrogantly.

The Guide spread both arms and laughed, declaring surrender as if she had no intention of competing with the Princess.

“No~ I told you. All labyrinths have rules and conditions. Usually those rules and conditions are the same throughout the entire labyrinth, but this labyrinth is.”

Olive stopped speaking to find the right word. As soon as she thought of the word she wanted, she said it immediately.

“Kind of jumbled up.”

“Jumbled up?”

“It feels like several labyrinths mixed together rather than one? That’s why the difficulty is also on the high side.”

Olive gestured as if mixing up the air like it was a labyrinth.

“The exit is blocked so supplies are cut off. Most are inexperienced with labyrinths. Young in age. Strangely noble in status. Honestly, without Princess, we might have been wiped out on the 4th Layer.”

‘What 4th floor. You guys were wiped out on the 2nd Layer.’

Trying to erase the record of being careless and nearly dying to the assassin poison spider.

Serena canceled her thought that Olive had excellent self-objectification.

“2nd Layer. Spider.”

Ying was honest unlike Olive. She corrected Olive’s words, not forgetting the embarrassing dark history and trying to distort everyone’s memory.

“That time we were really careless! Honestly, if it was just you and me, we would have caught the spider well, so exclude that!”

‘You were wiped out even when three of you went.’

When Serena and Ralph sent looks of disdain, Olive grumbled and acknowledged the dark history.

“Fine! I admit it! We almost died on the 2nd Layer! Anyway, that’s how it is. If being jumbled up is this labyrinth’s personality, then it’s quite a unique labyrinth.”

Olive only mentioned the labyrinth’s personality and didn’t bring up the 10th grade story. She seemed to be mindful of what the Princess had said in the past.

“Hearing such words makes me wonder if it’s okay to keep choosing only treasure chests.”

“Really? I actually want to walk only the treasure chest path more. Isn’t this the personality of this layer?”

Serena wanted to add her opinion on path selection as a reincarnated one who grasped the layer’s characteristics just by looking at the map, but couldn’t.

‘Ugh. I don’t know what to choose because I didn’t play the game.’

Why didn’t I play that game? There were many similar types, I should have tried at least one! I watch game broadcasts diligently though!

‘This is all because of work! I played fewer games because work was tiring!’

Indeed, labor that doesn’t suit one’s aptitude is the root of all evil.

Serena vowed that if she safely escaped the labyrinth, she wouldn’t leave her room from the moment Heuji City’s reconstruction was finished. Since she was making a vow anyway, she vowed to the Minotaur God.

The protagonists in novels Serena had read in her previous life drove themselves harder than anyone while resolving to live leisurely.

Fortunately, this world wasn’t a novel, and Serena wasn’t the protagonist either.

‘I’ll show you what a real idler is!’

Play, play, play while young. When you’re old and dead, you can’t play.

The Princess’s age: 18 years old. Serena earnestly hoped she could retire while she still had the energy to play.

***

The party encountered a total of 10 crossroads and had to choose their path 10 times.

The Guide chose paths with treasure chests every time. When there were no treasure chests, she selected paths that didn’t require combat.

As a result, the party arrived at the 31st Floor Boss Room of Heuji’s Labyrinth 9th Layer without fighting even once. It was still too early for lunch since their breakfast hadn’t fully digested yet.

“Let’s defeat the Floor Boss and eat when we get hungry.”

“This is the 31st Floor. A formidable monster will appear.”

“The only monsters we’ve confirmed so far have been goblins.”

Though iron bars blocked the path, they could observe the interior through the gaps.

It would be foolish to miss the free information.

The party had confirmed all the monsters they would have to fight if they chose combat at the crossroads.

They were all goblin parties. The compositions varied by path, but their equipment was excellent and they were much bulkier than the goblins seen on the 4th Layer.

‘They weren’t scrawny but muscular.’

If the 4th Layer goblins had small statures and thin bodies like commonly imagined goblins, the 9th Layer goblins were burly as if they’d only eaten chicken breast and done strength training.

‘Did they eat Labyrinth Chickens? Is that why they’re missing from the parties?’

Since Labyrinth Chickens were absent from the goblin parties, there were no Goblin Riders either, and instead dagger-wielding goblins filled the empty spots.

‘Goblin Thieves? Goblin Assassins? Either way, let’s be careful not to get cursed again.’

After taking a brief rest and composing themselves, the 1st Assault Team confidently opened the boss room door.

Past a narrow, straight corridor, a massive circular arena appeared.

White sand covered the floor, and empty spectator seats surrounded the arena. On the opposite side, a corridor like the one the party had come through was visible, but blocked by bars.

Serena looked around the spectator seats. Though empty, her heart somehow pounded as if she could hear the cheers of a packed audience.

‘Stay calm, Serena.’

The corridor the party had emerged from was blocked by bars, and simultaneously the closed bars on the opposite side rose.

Serena gripped her magic staff tightly and stared directly at the enemy walking out of the corridor.

The enemy was a goblin party. The party composition was identical to what the party would have faced if they had chosen combat at the first crossroads.

A Goblin Shaman wearing a flashy robe and gemstone necklace, waving a skull-adorned staff, two Goblin Champions flaunting un-goblin-like physiques. Plus a Goblin Archer arrogantly wielding a crossbow and a Goblin Thief holding a dagger in reverse grip.

The Goblin Shaman had been arrogantly chanting spells from the moment it walked out of the corridor, but Serena didn’t care.

This side had been chanting spells since walking through the corridor.

“What I desire is a blazing heat that burns everything!”

Flames flashed in the center of the goblin party that had been approaching while gauging distance.

The flame explosion magic, enhanced by the curse-like blessing of the Book-Eating Fox, engulfed the entire goblin party.

Kraaaagh!

The attribute-enhanced flame explosion magic had tremendous power.

The goblin party that had boasted muscles and good equipment suffered full-body burns from a single spell and became unable to fight.

“Phew.”

“Princess! Amazing!”

“Kyaa! Princess, you’re so cool!”

It was a perfect victory that required no one else to step in. As Ralph mercifully put the suffering goblins out of their misery, the closed bars rose.

“The path’s open~ Let’s grab what we can and go, wait.”

Olive, who had been removing the Goblin Shaman’s necklace, looked up with a serious expression.

Serena doubted her ears at the words that followed.

“Everyone prepare for battle!”

“What?”

“What are you talking about?”

The party followed the Guide’s instructions while confused. As they steadied their breathing, the reason for the Guide’s serious expression became clear.

New enemies appeared from the corridor that had opened when the bars rose. It was a goblin party.

Serena opened her one eye wide. That party composition. She had seen it before.

‘From the second crossroads!’

As if protesting why they had chosen treasure chests instead of them, a goblin party composed entirely of warriors charged at the group.

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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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