Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 23

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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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23. The One in a Hundred Thousand Man (6)

Serena sent Lavenda to the herb garden with Ralph as her escort. Lavenda collected the remaining herbs that Krom hadn’t touched because he didn’t know about them.

Rat meat, herbs, edible plants, and bread combined to make an excellent meal.

Honestly, the rat had a gamey smell, the grass was close to weeds and tasted bitter and astringent, and the seasoning was just salt and pepper, and even that was insufficient so they could only sprinkle a little, making it tasteless.

Nevertheless, people gave thumbs up saying this rat meat weed sandwich was the best sandwich of their lives. Hunger was the best seasoning.

Countess Randy, who usually had low fuel efficiency and wasn’t very hungry yet, ate bread with just grass stuffed in it.

“Sob sob, it tastes awful.”

Philia’s weed sandwich would have been saltier than others’ with tears and snot mixed in.

Everyone patted their stomachs, seeming to have eaten their fill.

Ralph carefully wrapped the rye bread, which was still half remaining even after sharing, in cloth. It was cloth that smelled of sweet baby scent.

Relief and peace appeared on the face of the boy who had been the main victim of Sir Lucas’s swinging fists.

The atmosphere that had been as precarious as a thread pulled taut and about to snap had loosened considerably.

“Your Highness.”

Sir Lucas’s voice tightened the relaxed atmosphere.

Ralph, who had been sitting with a bright face, suddenly stood up and began watching the surroundings, Krom got up with stiff body saying he should do the dishes, and Lavenda also watched Sir Lucas’s mood.

“Don’t waste your energy and rest.”

Usually the person who says such things is the main culprit preventing comfortable rest.

“Speak.”

“Due to my negligence, I carelessly listened to Your Highness’s precious pre…”

Sir Lucas seemed unable to bring himself to say prophecy and used a different word.

“I carelessly listened to Your Highness’s precious prediction. It’s all due to my lack of virtue. Please tell us again about the monsters that will appear on the 2nd floor.”

“I remember! You said an eight-legged ambusher and a horned bull-headed monster would appear!”

The freckled boy’s eyes sparkled brightly.

“Did the Minotaur God tell Your Highness? Do you hear the voice of god? The earth god priest who visits our village said he has never heard the voice of god!”

The growing youth of Heuji had many things he wanted to eat and many things he wanted to know. His curiosity overflowed enough to forget the presence of Sir Lucas whom he had feared.

“Hehe. Don’t compare an ordinary priest with Lady Serena. Lady Serena has sacred divine blood flowing through her.”

Serena stayed quiet while Philia boasted.

It wasn’t anything great. Since it was a world with many gods, most decent dynasties claimed to be descendants of gods.

The Vieta royal family of Lavenda’s homeland also claims to have divine blood flowing. Countries that didn’t make such claims were the strange ones.

“Though other countries also have dynasties with divine blood, Lady Serena is even more special. Lady Serena’s orange eyes are a symbol of divinity that rarely appears only in the Heuji royal family on the continent.”

“Oh my. I thought they were very unique eyes, but that’s what it was. As the Countess said, they’re divine.”

“Yes. They appear very rarely even in the Heuji royal family, and currently only Lady Serena and Duke Oren possess them in the royal family.”

There are only five living royals currently, so if two have them, isn’t that common? Serena chuckled.

“I remember. When the prince was born, they said it was the first in 100 years. There was quite a commotion saying it was very auspicious.”

When Serena was born, there was commotion for a different reason. Because of where her parents met.

Crown Prince Kipan and Crown Princess Melang met at a drug orgy party and conceived Serena.

Until Serena was born, all sorts of rumors circulated about the father of the fetus, and Crown Princess Melang, who had been one of many prince consorts but became crown princess overnight, was said to have suffered tremendously.

The rumors completely disappeared when Serena was born with orange eyes, but it was too late. Crown Princess Melang could only look her daughter straight in the eyes on days with thunder and lightning.

“But if orange eyes are proof of divine blood, then you’re a descendant of a god with orange eyes? Was there such a god?”

“Ahem.”

Sir Lucas cleared his throat. He seemed displeased with commoners discussing the royal family’s bloodline, showing an uncomfortable expression.

‘Or maybe he doesn’t like that I have orange eyes like Richard.’

Nobles who had been close to the deceased former crown prince were especially like that. They pretended to like her reluctantly since there were no royals, but openly turned away when Duke Oren returned alive.

‘It’s not like we’re going to play palace politics in the labyrinth.’

Serena was also thinking of getting to the main point. Remembering her weak-hearted mother put her in a bad mood. Serena touched her throat.

“God didn’t speak to me. I just came to know it. It’s difficult to explain in detail.”

“I see. An ambusher with eight legs would likely be a spider type. As for horned bull-headed monsters, minotaurs are most famous.”

Sir Lucas denied the possibility that the bull-headed monster was a minotaur.

“It won’t be a minotaur.”

“Why is that?”

“This is only the 2nd floor. Minotaurs are too strong monsters to appear on a floor as low as the 2nd. To kill a properly armed minotaur without casualties would require at least three knights and one mage.”

Sir Lucas briefly explained the anti-minotaur tactics learned in the knight order.

“I heard that Imperial knights can easily conquer up to the 10th floor alone. The 10th floor is said to be the set limit due to supply issues, and if there were no supply problems, even the 20th floor would be sufficient. Since our Heuji knights are no less capable than Imperial knights, I believe monsters like minotaurs won’t appear before the 20th floor.”

‘How enthusiastically did he socialize with Imperial knights? Why does everything he says start with “Imperial knights say”?’

When serving guard duty together, there’s nothing else to do but chat. Since the Empire has the most labyrinths, it wasn’t bad information to hear.

‘It is strange that after defeating the 1st floor boss in one hit, suddenly a boss requiring three knights and even a mage appears on the 2nd floor.’

If it really was a minotaur, it would be a failed game with poor difficulty adjustment. There are games that make brutal difficulty their identity, but they don’t place such vicious bosses starting from the 2nd floor.

‘If there is one, it’s something to avoid.’

Occasionally monsters appear who defeat bosses that should be avoided with godlike control, but that was only possible because it was a game.

“Don’t you know in more detail?”

“I don’t know more about the monsters. I’m talking about the leader’s chamber where you went in and defeated the floor boss.”

“Yes.”

“The 2nd floor’s leader’s chamber will open automatically without touching it, and small monsters will come out. You need to be careful of that.”

“Understood.”

Sir Lucas nodded his head carefully.

“Since everyone has eaten their fill, we plan to go down to the 2nd floor after a brief rest. Your Highness will stay here.”

“I’m going down too.”

“…Then please prepare yourself mentally as well, Your Highness. As for Countess Randy.”

Sir Lucas seemed to desperately want to leave Philia behind.

Serena nodded. It was better to leave Philia, who was slow at running and sluggish in movement, in a safe place.

“Lavenda. You will protect Countess Randy.”

“What? I want to go too, Lady Serena!”

“You’re too slow.”

And she didn’t want to see blood-soaked silver hair again.

Serena received string from Krom and tied her shoes so they wouldn’t come off. She also borrowed Sir Lucas’s sword to cut the hem of her dress. When her ankles and even calves were exposed, Philia nearly fainted.

Before leaving the lobby, Serena hesitated in front of the statue.

To save or not to save.

The moment she touched the statue, the regression point would be fixed. She couldn’t return to before that.

‘Since I’ve resolved Sir Lucas’s problem too…’

Serena touched the statue. Now there was no turning back.

“The spider webs are strong. Be careful not to step on them.”

The princess re-entered the 2nd floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth with confident ambition.

***

The 2nd floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth was dark as Serena remembered. When Serena created light with magic to secure a light source, Sir Lucas took the lead.

‘This is it.’

Now the one in a hundred thousand man finally began working properly.

Before Royal Knight Sir Lucas, the labyrinth spiders were less than foot soldiers in a musou game. The party advanced quickly and reached the place where they had been annihilated.

Grooooong.

As the party stepped into the wide space, the door came down like before. When a massive bull head with two huge horns was seen first, Sir Lucas shouted.

“It’s a minotaur! Your Highness, please run away!”

‘But you said it wasn’t earlier!’

Who was it that said there was no way a minotaur would appear on the 2nd floor, quoting Imperial knights?

‘And even if you tell me to run!’

With Serena’s running speed, she would obviously be caught by the minotaur and die the same way as before. Moreover, Sir Lucas wasn’t running away, perhaps trying to buy time.

“Haaaah!”

Sir Lucas gauged the speed of the descending door and let out a battle cry.

The small shield attached to his left gauntlet became enormous. He collided head-on with the minotaur that was pawing the ground to charge.

Thoom! A heavy sound echoed throughout the entire floor.

‘This is insane.’

A bull and a human collided, yet the human only staggered back a step or two and held his ground.

“Haah!”

Ralph valiantly thrust his spear at the Minotaur. It bounced off without even leaving a scratch.

“Stop interfering and get lost! Your weapons can’t handle a Minotaur!”

Lucas was using all his strength to wrestle with the Minotaur. Though he was being pushed back little by little, it was impressive that he was holding out.

Serena realized she had been underestimating the power balance of this world.

This was a world where gods were close, and monsters and magic existed. The knights of this world were combat specialists who far surpassed the knights of her previous life.

Moreover, Lucas was a knight of the Royal Family. He was a high-ranking noble, distant relative of Serena or not, but would they choose just anyone to be the sword that protects royalty?

‘Lucas! I ignored you thinking you were similar to Ralph, but you weren’t a disgrace to the Royal Knights after all!’

Ralph was holding a spear, but if he held a sword, wouldn’t the transparent star fill with yellow and become 3-star?

Ralph was just a squire, yet he had the same star rating as Lucas, so Lucas must be terrible! A disgrace to the Royal Knights!

Serena, who had been thinking carelessly, received a great shock. Lucas had achieved both star count and probability!

‘Well done, you one in a hundred thousand man! 3-star knight!’

“Ugh. Your Highness! What are you doing!”

Lucas scolded Serena for not running away. It wasn’t like Serena was staying put because she was lost in strange thoughts.

“Close your eyes!”

By controlling the output of 1st circle light orb magic, she could emit a powerful flash for an instant and rob the enemy of their sight. This was the result of practice she had achieved while being stuck in the lobby because of Lucas.

A powerful light burst between Lucas and the Minotaur.

Moooooo!

When the light burst so intensely it could cause blindness rather than just being dazzling, the Minotaur closed its eyes and staggered.

“This is our chance!”

They just needed to attack while the Minotaur was blinded! The moment Serena shouted this, the Minotaur’s ears twitched and it immediately took a charging stance.

‘Sharp hearing too? What a pain!’

“Hraaah!”

Lucas pushed the Minotaur back with his shield. He stepped backward, changed to a smaller shield, and charged. His eyes were bloodshot from straining so hard while facing off against the bull.

“Quickly to the 1st floor!”

Ralph grabbed the lagging Krom and ran. The Minotaur was still blinded, but with its excellent hearing, it heard the party running and gave chase.

Thoom! Thoom!

The protruding walls and pillars randomly placed throughout the path broke each time they collided with the Minotaur, slowing down the enraged bipedal bull-headed monster.

‘So that’s why there were walls and pillars!’

Thanks to running without stopping despite feeling like their lungs would burst, they were able to climb the steep stairs. Fortunately, the Minotaur didn’t chase them up the stairs and stopped its pursuit.

“Huff huff. Gaaah. Hah hah hoo hoo.”

“I’m… cough cough. dying… I’m dying.”

“Grandmother Krom, huff, breathe like me, hoo hoo. Whoo.”

Krom, who had run for his life at over 50, was in agony. Ralph patted Krom’s back as he struggled to breathe properly.

Serena collapsed next to the corpse of the Labyrinth Rat Leader, which had been pulverized in a different way than before.

Rotten vitreous fluid that had flowed from the undead’s burst eyeball got in her hair, but she didn’t care.

“We’re alive! Ugh!”

Even though she had run so hard that she vomited on the corpse, it was fine since they were all alive.

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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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