Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 316

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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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316. Voice Phishing is Persistent

Since Krom was undead, she didn’t need to sleep.

Not feeling sleepy, not getting tired even after staying awake for days – it was a truly strange feeling.

She had once endured a month sleeping only one hour a day to escape prison, but back then she was young and had the firm goal of breaking out.

But after dying and awakening as undead, she didn’t feel tired at all.

That said, she wasn’t exactly bursting with energy either. This was a feeling that was really difficult to understand or explain.

‘You’d have to die to know.’

Right. This was a sensation that someone who hadn’t died could never understand.

So Krom didn’t tell people about it.

If she brought it up for no reason, that annoyingly talkative boy and the worryingly thin woman would pester her with questions. It was incredibly bothersome.

Anyway, since Krom didn’t need to sleep, she thought the night watch duty in the lobby would naturally fall to her.

She figured if she became the undead guard of the lobby and proved her usefulness, they’d let her maintain her undead state until they left the labyrinth.

Unfortunately, the living had no intention of entrusting their safety to the dead.

So the night watch in the lobby continued in the existing rotation even though Krom was there.

People who ended up staying awake through the night with the undead crone tried to make conversation with Krom, but grew tired of her surly and blunt responses and gradually spoke less.

Of course, there was someone who didn’t give up despite Krom’s surly replies.

“Haha, you’re quite witty.”

Prince Willow was a prime example.

Krom hadn’t said much, but she looked at the prince who was clutching his belly and laughing with blank eyes.

In life she had seen her country’s princess, and in death she was seeing the Empire’s prince – life was truly a spectacle.

“By the way, Krom. Are you really okay not resting?”

“How many times do I have to tell you. I’ve said it so much my mouth’s gonna rot.”

“Hahaha!”

This time too, the prince clutched his belly and laughed.

‘What a frivolous man.’

The prince kept trying to talk to her, making her want to go into the coffin assigned as her quarters and close the lid.

As Krom looked wistfully at the coffin, Prince Willow, who had been laughing quietly, removed his hand from his mouth.

“Didn’t you just hear some sound?”

“What sound? I didn’t hear anything.”

No sooner had Krom replied than there really was some sound from outside the lobby.

“Hey!”

“There’s someone outside! Is it a survivor?”

The prince, who had been guarding the never-extinguishing campfire, jumped up. Krom got up too.

“Who goes there? Identify yourself!”

Prince Willow shouted at the door magnificently and confidently like a prince from an adventure tale. Then an answer came back from the door.

“Hey!”

It was exactly the same as the sound they’d heard just before. Krom sensed something strange and looked at the prince.

The wariness disappeared from Prince Willow’s face.

“Ah, is that you?”

Not only had the wariness disappeared. Outside the door, someone just kept shouting “Hey! Hey!” but Prince Willow was having a conversation with that sound.

If Krom had been alive, her heart would have pounded and goosebumps would have covered her entire body.

Having died with cold blood and a hardened heart, Krom hurriedly woke people up.

“Princess! Wake up! Everyone wake up!”

“What’s wrong?”

Krom explained the situation to the princess, who was first to emerge from her capsule.

“The prince is talking to something evil!”

Something evil. Upon hearing those words, Serena’s sleepiness vanished.

The princess looked at Prince Willow with her clear single eye. Just as Krom had said, the prince was smiling and conversing with the door to the labyrinth corridors, slowly walking toward it.

“Ah, yes. You’re holding laundry in both hands so you can’t open the door? I’ll open it for you.”

‘This can’t be!’

What they had experienced at the mountain hut on the snowy mountain peak was repeating in the lobby.

Serena hurriedly woke the people who were still sleeping. At the same time, she realized something strange.

‘Olive is still sleeping?’

The sharp-eared guide was still snoring away on top of her capsule? This wasn’t normal.

‘Not everyone’s being bewitched!’

Serena screamed internally while splashing water on the people sleeping outside their capsules.

“Argh! What the hell?”

“Damn, which bastard was it! I’ll compose an acrostic poem starting with ‘Ro.'”

“What’s happening?”

Fortunately, the rest including Olive hadn’t been bewitched by the ghostly voice.

“It’s a ghostly voice! The prince has been bewitched by a ghostly voice!”

“What? Willow’s been bewitched by what?”

Grey opened his capsule door and came out on his own. Whether sensing the ghostly voice’s deception, Neet also rubbed her eyes and slipped out of her sister’s embrace.

“I’m also, ugh, awake.”

Countess Nex also announced her awakening with her voice. She couldn’t come out right away due to low blood pressure.

“Grandmother Krom! Stop Willow from opening the door!”

“Got it.”

Grey assigned a task to Krom, who was waking others. Serena tried to help too, but Olive jumped down from her capsule and blocked the princess.

“Whoa whoa, Princess. Prince is off-limits.”

“What?”

“It’s dangerous if you carelessly approach Lord Willow.”

Not just Olive, but Count Alpha also seriously hardened his expression. Olive clapped her hands to draw attention.

“Everyone listen! No approaching the prince!”

“Cough. Is Grandmother Krom okay though?”

As Neet expressed doubt, the prince bewitched by the ghostly voice provided the answer.

“Hmm? Sorry. My body feels strangely heavy and won’t move.”

Prince Willow looked down at Krom, who was hugging his legs and sitting on the floor. The prince’s night sky-like eyes had lost their sharpness and were hazy.

“Oh my, a heavy object is pressing down on me.”

Perhaps because Prince Willow was bewitched, he couldn’t recognize Krom. He recognized her, but perceived her as an object rather than someone he could communicate with.

“What’s happening? Who is the prince having a conversation with?”

The mysterious stranger trembled with fear and wrapped her arms around herself. This time the ghostly voice answered.

“Please open the door quickly.”

“Wait just a moment, Miss Lavenda.”

When the mysterious stranger’s voice came from outside the door, Prince Willow spoke to the door as sweetly as honey.

Lavenda let out a shrill scream and rubbed her body.

“I, I’m right here, so who exactly are you talking to?”

“It’s a ghostly voice. The ghostly voice is imitating your voice to seduce the prince.”

“What nonsense have you all been spouting? I only hear evil sounds.”

The living people clearly heard the ghostly voice imitating Lavenda’s voice, but Krom said she only heard “Hey.”

Being the same type of undead, the bewitching technique seemed not to work on her.

“Did the ghost follow us here?”

Sesi, who had been severely tormented by the ghostly voice, clung tightly to Duri.

She seemed to expect the bear to tear the ghost apart. Unfortunately, ordinary physical attacks don’t work on spirits.

‘Though you never know. There are stories about dogs barking or roosters crowing dealing damage to ghosts, so maybe a bear’s roar would be effective too.’

“Woof?”

“Waaah. Sister Duri is scared of ghosts too.”

At least the cute “woof” sound clearly had no ghost-repelling effect.

“You keep saying ghostly voice, ghostly voice, but what are you talking about?”

“Right. Among specter and wraith-type monsters, is there evidence to specifically identify it as a ghostly voice?”

Jungwonjo was curious about why the monster was so certain of its identity. The hunter groaned as he inserted a magic stone into his crossbow.

“I encountered a Ghostly Voice on the 10th Layer and drove it away with explosive arrows. It seems to have followed me all the way here.”

“What? I know that wraiths and spirits follow you when you change layers, but you must have used the teleportation room. And it still followed you?”

“Right? I never expected it either.”

Even the experienced Olive was shocked to hear that a 10th Layer monster had chased them all the way to the 1st Layer.

Low groaned even more, perhaps feeling responsible and burdened that the Ghostly Voice had followed them here.

Grey also seemed surprised, though he didn’t speak, his mouth slightly agape.

This was a situation that even the Empire’s Grand Mage, who had devoted his life to conquering the Empire’s Labyrinth, had never anticipated.

“Someone conversed with the Ghostly Voice. It must have followed their energy.”

Ying analyzed the reason why the Ghostly Voice was able to reach the 1st Layer.

“It’s all my fault.”

Count Alpha couldn’t bear the guilt and hung his head. He had clenched his teeth so hard that not only his chiseled jaw but even his neck muscles trembled finely.

“I didn’t know either. It’s not your fault. I dozed off too. We just need to handle this well now.”

Perhaps feeling sorry for Count Alpha who kept blaming himself, the Taciturn Archer spoke four whole sentences to comfort the Imperial Knight.

Grey, who had been standing with his mouth open in surprise, came to his senses at Ying’s words and waved his hands to snap everyone back to attention.

“Sister Ying is right! We just need to handle this well! Willow is already entranced, but fortunately Grandmother Krom is holding him back well!”

Krom, sitting on the Prince’s feet, had her face pushed by the Prince’s hands as he tried to remove her.

“Can’t hold on much longer, so hurry up and solve this.”

It was incredibly fortunate that Krom was blocking the Prince. Without Krom, the Prince would have already opened the door and invited the Ghostly Voice into the lobby.

Serena took out the otherworldly rope that remained after the faithful servant of the Deity of Darkness had burned it with strange fire.

“Let’s restrain the Prince with this first.”

Serena approached Prince Willow to tie the rope around him. This time, Olive, Count Alpha, Ralph, and even Grey clung to her to stop her.

“Whoa, whoa, Princess. No approaching, we told you.”

“It’s dangerous if you approach the entranced Prince!”

‘Why is everyone so scared?’

How could they conquer the Labyrinth if they were this terrified of restraining Prince Willow, not even the Ghostly Voice?

Unlike the Princess who didn’t know the Prince’s abilities, the three who knew the Prince’s true nature put their heads together in deadly serious discussion.

“If we go one by one, we’ll just die. You know that, right?”

“It would be best for three of us to attack simultaneously.”

“Since Duri’s vital point locations change when she transforms into a bear, how about asking Duri to help too?”

“Even as a bear, she’ll die the same if her head gets pierced through the eyes. It might be different if the bear was smart, but she’s stupid.”

“Is it much further?”

While the three discussed seriously, Prince Willow dragged Krom along and advanced little by little.

Krom was small to begin with. Even putting her full weight into resisting, she was still a manageable weight for Prince Willow, whose thigh muscles had developed from climbing endless stairs.

Knowing they couldn’t delay any longer, the three moved to their predetermined positions. Their expressions were truly solemn.

The moment Olive gave a silent signal, Ralph and Count Alpha rushed at the Prince.

All three of the physically capable ones in the lobby had pounced on Prince Willow.

Ralph and Count Alpha wrapped rope around the Prince’s body while Olive hid behind Count Alpha, then suddenly appeared and snatched the magic sword from the Prince.

Prince Willow, in his entranced state and with Krom still clinging to him, had his magic sword taken without much resistance. He didn’t resist even when his body was bound with rope.

“Phew!”

“We did it!”

“Thank you so much for helping.”

They had acted as solemnly as if going to their deaths just to restrain someone possessed by a ghost, but after finishing, they celebrated as if they had perfectly conquered the Labyrinth.

“Well done!”

Grey even patted Ralph’s back as if the three had accomplished something great. That stingy Old Man with praise!

Serena blinked her one eye, unable to understand the four’s bizarre behavior. She wondered if the four were also entranced by the Ghostly Voice, but that wasn’t the case.

“I need to open the door! Quickly untie this! Isn’t Lavenda unable to get in!”

Prince Willow, bound tightly with the otherworldly rope, flopped around like a fish out of water.

Grey kicked the Prince’s bottom and held his forehead.

“Now that we’ve restrained Will too, we need to deal with the Ghostly Voice… Sigh.”

He wanted to sweep away the Ghostly Voice with powerful magic without giving it a chance to cause trouble, but the reality that he couldn’t do so was simply frustrating.

Grey let out repeated deep sighs.

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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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