Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 263

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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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263. Even Worms Squirm When Stepped On

Seraph hurriedly looked for a place to hide, but how could there be such a thing in a tunnel?

Serena’s sibling didn’t meekly admit fault and, true to character, blamed others instead.

“How is that my fault? I said it was because of the big worm. Don’t you trust what I’m saying?”

As they say, the one who farted gets angry – getting defensive out of guilt comes as a bonus.

Serena became certain after seeing her sibling’s reaction.

‘This little brat?’

It was fortunate that both parties were safe. Even though everyone was alive, the trouble caused was no small matter.

Next to the angry prince, his fiancée candidate grumbled.

“It is Seraph’s fault. That treasure chest was extremely suspicious.”

“It wasn’t suspicious, it was special!”

“Miss Muffin. Ignore Seraph and explain step by step.”

The prince, who always craved attention, flared up.

“Don’t ignore me!”

“Then you explain.”

“Hmph. I’ll explain based on objective facts.”

According to Seraph, the objectively explained content was as follows.

Seraph’s party, having reached the 46th floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth’s 11th level, first checked their labyrinth compass.

The highest-grade labyrinth compass pointed not only to stairs but also to treasure chests and locations where they could gain benefits. However, the needle pointing to treasure chests shook particularly violently.

The needle’s reaction was so unusual that the party decided to find the treasure chest first instead of the stairs.

“Ugh, that’s a lie. Everyone said to ignore it because the needle reaction was strange, but only Seraph and Knight Marin got excited and wanted to find the treasure chest.”

“You also sang about opening this chest yourself.”

“Urgh.”

Let’s return to the explanation.

In the winding, complex tunnel, the party relying on the compass and Seraph’s intuition arrived at the location of the problematic treasure chest more easily than expected.

“There was a treasure chest of a color I’d never seen before.”

“A color you’d never seen? If it looked slightly faded, that’s a chest that produces cursed magical tools.”

Seraph crossed arms and arrogantly lifted chin.

“Do you think I can’t distinguish something like that? That chest was truly one I’d never seen before. It had a noble purple base with brilliant multicolored light emanating from it.”

It was the appearance of a new treasure chest following the common, high-grade, rare, and magical ones. Serena felt an extraordinary aura from the brilliant multicolored light and focused on her sibling’s story.

“At first I thought it was a mimic, but it wasn’t. There were no traps or ambushing monsters around either. There were no other suspicious points.”

It’s common sense to be suspicious when a treasure chest or vault is just sitting there alone. But this is a labyrinth, and labyrinths are places where treasure chests are originally displayed permanently, complete with pedestals.

“Not suspicious, you say. High Priest Hazel also said to be cautious since it was a treasure chest he’d never seen before, but Seraph got excited and ran toward it.”

Sparks flew from Seraph’s pretty eyes.

“I confirmed there were no monsters or traps!”

“But in the end there was a monster. Ugh, so what happened was…”

Muffin, unable to bear it any longer, opened her mouth. She couldn’t tolerate the royal’s stubbornness in claiming subjective views were objective.

“It wasn’t that there were no ambushing monsters. The monster was so big that we couldn’t notice it even without camouflaging or hiding. The moment Seraph approached the treasure chest, the entire tunnel where the treasure chest was located shook and the floor rose up.”

Muffin pressed her forehead and sighed as if the memory was still dizzying.

“A giant monster was lying on the tunnel floor. We had been walking on top of the monster.”

It was certain without needing separate confirmation that the giant monster that had been lying down was the same entity as the giant worm that shook the entire tunnel. Confirming it would have been a waste of time.

“We really ran for our lives with gritted teeth. It was the first time in my life I’d run so desperately.”

Muffin glared at Seraph, who had awakened the sleeping monster. The High Priest of Effort also sent reproachful looks while rubbing his bald head.

The princess’s brow naturally furrowed.

“The guide I know could distinguish between carpet and carpet mimics by the feeling underfoot. You stepped directly on a monster and didn’t know?”

“I didn’t step directly on the monster – there was tunnel floor in between! If I’d stepped directly on it, I would have known too!”

Among the three gazes, Seraph seemed to find his sister’s look of incompetence and disappointment the most unbearable, arguing passionately with veins bulging in his neck.

“Anyway, it’s true that everyone almost died because of you.”

“Hehe, your greed was excessive. The effort to restrain impulses is also important.”

“Ugh, it’s really fortunate that no one died.”

Serena calmly organized the story she had heard.

‘First, it’s fortunate that no one died. But I need to be angry. The reason I can be calm now is because I’m a regressor.’

If Serena’s life weren’t infinite (limited to the labyrinth though), this incident could have ended Serena’s life.

“Seraph.”

Serena controlled her emotions while calling her sibling’s name. Seraph, whose name was called, bit his lips and turned his head away.

“You need to think ahead about what will happen as a result of your actions and how they’ll affect other people before you act.”

“I’m tired of hearing that.”

The prince scrunched up his face, prettier than flowers.

“We’re not the only ones in this labyrinth right now. Even though we were safe, there might be people who weren’t safe.”

The possibility that the giant worm’s belch-like tremor was transmitted to other labyrinths, similar yet different, was slim. What Serena wanted to say was the possibility that there were other people in this tunnel besides the two parties.

‘Even if the Labyrinth God is controlling things, it’s useless if the labyrinths overlap.’

Seraph seemed to understand Serena’s meaning and frowned.

Unlike Serena, who was half commoner, Seraph was a true royal who viewed commoners as chess pieces, but no royal would want chess pieces to be meaninglessly buried in tunnels.

“…I’ll try.”

At Seraph’s words, spoken with difficulty, Muffin and the Effort Priest brightened.

“Wow, for Seraph to say such words! Serena is truly amazing!”

“Hehe, I’m delighted that the prince has come to know the charm of effort!”

At this, the prince lit twin flames in his amethyst-pretty eyes.

“I’m the one making an effort, so why is Serena amazing? Whose side are you on?”

“Ugh. I’m a servant of corruption, so I only know single-minded devotion to corruption!”

The questioning from her lord and fiancée candidate made her seek the deity she usually ignored. Muffin suddenly declared herself a faithful servant of corruption and urged them to continue on their way.

***

Seraph, who had picked the lock with lockpicking tools, opened a rare-grade treasure chest. From the treasure chest came two lighting magical tools that could be attached to clothes or equipment.

“Useful lighting finally appeared.”

Until now, Seraph’s party had relied on Priest Rihua for light. Currently they were depending on Serena’s light orb magic, but now that lighting magical tools had appeared, Muffin smiled brightly with joy.

“Hmph.”

Seraph snorted.

The prince opened a high-grade treasure chest. From the treasure chest came a ball of thread. After checking the thread’s material, Seraph slightly raised the corners of his mouth and put it in his subspace bag.

“Seraph. You should tell us what it is. Are you keeping it to yourself?”

“I’ll use it for traps.”

Seraph replied curtly.

Seraph crawled with difficulty through a narrow tunnel where the ceiling had collapsed, and at the end opened a rare-grade treasure chest buried in dirt. This time he didn’t even show what came out.

Heuji’s prince, proving that not only kings and generals but also thieves aren’t born differently, opened a common-grade treasure chest. From the chest came 3 low-grade recovery potions.

“Tch.”

Seraph clicked his tongue as if displeased with the reward from the chest. Though his mouth grumbled, his hands diligently collected the potions.

Seraph, who was better at labyrinth pathfinding than running state affairs, moved forward confidently.

Serena called out to her sibling, who couldn’t express confidence by straightening his back and chest due to the tunnel height.

“Seraph, wait a moment.”

“Why?”

“Ugh, why indeed. We’ve been pushing too hard. It must be even harder for Serena.”

“Hehe, Bindo’s back hurts and he’s tired too. How about resting now and saving strength to make an effort tomorrow?”

Seraph’s gaze lingered on Serena’s legs of different lengths. The prince clicked his tongue and agreed with the two’s words.

“Tch. Fine. We’ll rest here today.”

Locations with treasure chests sometimes become safe resting places. Seraph carefully examined the surroundings like checking for remaining embers in a extinguished area and began setting up traps.

“Serena, please lean on me.”

“Thank you.”

Serena leaned against Muffin while thinking.

‘That’s not why I called for a break.’

The Princess had a different reason for calling her sibling.

‘You’ve been opening nothing but chests this whole time. Are we even going the right way?’

They were supposed to be heading to meet up with High Priest Hazel, but they’d already found 4 treasure chests. Serena began to wonder if treasure chests had always been such common items.

‘Olive did say that mine-type areas usually have generous rewards. But there’s a limit.’

With chests appearing this frequently, it made sense how Seraph and the priest party had been able to tackle the labyrinth despite their supply lines being cut off.

‘Even so, this is a bit much. You’re not slightly detouring to grab chests, are you?’

It was the right approach in games, but in reality where they needed to reunite with the party as quickly as possible, it was a method to avoid.

Serena was about to interrogate her sibling when she saw Seraph concentrating on setting up traps and closed her mouth.

The Princess happened to have memories of getting her sibling killed by talking to him while he was setting traps.

That death was particularly harmful to Serena’s mental health among Seraph’s many deaths.

After finishing the trap installation, Seraph assigned the night watch order.

“Muffin, Baldy, me, Serena.”

Serena was slightly surprised. Not because she was finally getting night watch duty.

‘The order is efficient!’

Placing Muffin, the party’s only dealer, and Serena, who was temporarily impaired, in comfortable shifts while putting High Priest of Effort and himself in the bad shifts!

‘Is this really Seraph?’

It was such a reasonable arrangement that it was hard to believe it came from Seraph, who was selfish, self-centered, and prioritized his own comfort over others’ hardships.

“You get up early and warm up your body in advance.”

Seraph, who was explaining why he placed Serena in the last shift instead of first, narrowed his eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you’re pretty?”

“Hmph.”

Usually when someone complimented his looks by calling him pretty, Seraph would throw a fit saying ‘How dare you comment on my appearance when I’m royalty. How impudent!’ But he readily accepted his sister’s praise. While he had no pride in his beauty, he was aware of his own appearance.

Serena ate some simple food and fell asleep the moment her back touched the ground. It felt like she’d only closed her eyes for 10 seconds when someone shook her body.

“Hey, wake up. It’s your turn.”

Serena’s eyes snapped open. She had no memory of falling asleep, yet her sibling was waking her up. This reality was truly hard to accept.

‘It’s been a while since I felt like this.’

It was like a Monday morning feeling – staying up late clutching her phone in disbelief that Monday was coming, then waking up to the alarm sound.

Fortunately her eyes opened wide, but there was a problem.

“Ugh!”

Her entire body, which had suffered in the upper body and waist in the morning and then the lower body in the afternoon, began protesting to its owner asking how this could be happening.

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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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