Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 324

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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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324. Waste Paper Collection

Count Randy was very eager to participate when he heard the news that Serena was re-entering the labyrinth library.

However, the original purpose of re-entering the 8th layer was to make good use of the time while the alchemist was crafting equipment. Count Randy naturally had to be excluded.

Olive secretly liked that the alchemist was being excluded.

“The Count loves books too much, so it would be dangerous if he went there~ Hmm. Since we’re excluding the Count anyway, should we exclude the Knight too?”

“No! I absolutely won’t turn my eyes to books!”

When Olive’s green olive-colored eyes turned toward him, Ralph shouted that he wouldn’t even glance at the novels he liked.

“Then we’ll leave the Knight as is~ Hmm~ Since we’re excluding the Count anyway, I want to bring one person from the 2nd team. Hey. Princess, who do you like?”

The purpose of visiting the library was to collect labyrinth book paper. Since they planned to only wander around the 26th floor without going to other floors, the guide showed some leisure.

“Aren’t you being too relaxed? They say overconfidence in the labyrinth means death.”

“Hehehe. Of course I trust the Princess.”

Olive rubbed her hands together cunningly while flattering, then examined the members of the 2nd team’s attack group.

“Let’s see. Everyone has faces that hate books.”

Low was more interested in the weight of books than books themselves, and the Number Siblings didn’t even know letters, so they lived lives estranged from books.

“Good! Compass, I’ve decided on you!”

“Eh. I’m going?”

“Yeah. Those labyrinth book bastards are all pretending to be books, so it’ll be perfect if you find them. Princess, this is fine now, right?”

When first attacking the labyrinth library, Olive had once suggested returning to the lobby to remove Ralph from the party and bring Hana instead.

At that time, Serena had refused Olive’s suggestion for Hana’s safety. So what about now?

‘Quite some time has passed.’

Serena carefully observed Hana. When the princess’s single eye focused on her, Hana tensed up and stood at attention.

“I’ll work hard!”

‘Her combat power is still lacking, but. Originally, Hana’s true nature is an ability she was born with.’

The monsters that appear on the 8th layer are the labyrinth rat leader, labyrinth books, monster books, etc.

‘Let’s exclude shadow tigers since they come when called.’

Anyway, among the appearing monsters, the only monster that appeared on the 26th floor was the labyrinth book.

Labyrinth books were scary because their normal attacks were area attacks, but correspondingly they had weak defense and health, being hp1 monsters that died in one hit from a thrown dagger.

If Hana could protect herself or dodge attacks, it seemed fine to bring her along.

“Hana. Can you dodge monster attacks or hide your body?”

“I can do it!”

Ralph also shouted energetically along with her.

“I can protect her too!”

‘Right. It’s not just Hana who has grown. Ralph’s rank has increased.’

And now she could use magic in the library too. Serena proudly stroked the magic paper hanging around her neck.

Thanks to the magic magnet, thinking she could use magic freely with both hands as desired felt very reassuring.

“Good. I’ll look forward to your performance.”

When the princess smiled brightly and encouraged the girl and boy, the girl and boy answered energetically to meet the expectations of the one they admired.

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

***

Heuji’s Labyrinth 1st team attack group, having replaced the alchemist with the pickpocket, confidently entered the teleportation room.

“You must never open your mouth in the library.”

“Yes! I have a quiet personality! Don’t worry!”

The experienced members who had witnessed the terror of shadow tigers repeatedly urged her earnestly. Hana answered lightly each time.

The lightness that seemed to let everyone’s entreaties go in one ear and out the other made Serena secretly worried.

‘I saved, so it’s fine.’

The people who came to see the party off to the teleportation room wished for the party’s good fortune. Not everyone said such admirable things.

“If there are any books containing knowledge that can’t be obtained outside the labyrinth, it would be good if you could borrow them.”

“I also want alche- Gasp, don’t worry about books and please return safely!”

“Argh, sister-in-law! Sorry, sorryyy! Aaaaah!”

Grey couldn’t give up his desire for books and got his ear pinched by Heuji Jeolmi. Serena felt secretly pleased as she selected the 8th layer.

Dazzling light burst from the magic circle, covering the party, then soon faded. The group arrived at the leader’s chamber on the 30th floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth 8th layer.

Normally, Olive, the guide, would have confirmed safety and signaled the group that it was okay to move.

This time, Hana took on that role. Hana glanced around the leader’s chamber and sent a hand signal that it was safe.

The gem book that was the floor boss, the carpet mimic that was the layer boss, and the mimics disguised as bookshelves apparently hadn’t been restored yet.

The ability to know the positions of enemies and traps without looking closely. Olive, who envied Hana’s ability, pouted her lips.

Hana, who slowly approached the stairs at the end of the leader’s chamber, opened her mouth wide. Serena and the group were once again overwhelmed by the scenery that looked slightly different from their changed position.

‘It’s spectacular even seeing it again.’

Books, books, books – only books.

An infinite sea made of books spread below the party. Even though it was obvious they’d be crushed or suffocated if they jumped in, it was a bewitching sea that strangely made them want to dive in.

The party carefully descended the stairs to the 29th floor, being careful not to fall. Olive threw the rope she had prepared in advance below the railing.

The bundle of rope unraveled with a whir and landed on the 26th floor carpet. Olive silently pretended to cheer.

‘Last time the rope got blocked in the middle. Is it because we arrived at the 30th floor or caught the floor boss?’

Even without knowing the cause, having a shortcut was a good thing.

After Olive secured the rope to the railing, she climbed down the rope.

She descended so quickly that she soon tugged the rope to signal the group. It meant it was safe to come down.

If Serena could climb down the rope by herself here, it would be really cool and her own growth (especially muscle) would be so dazzling it would bring tears to her eyes.

Unfortunately, Serena’s muscles and stamina hadn’t grown to that extent. Serena was carried down to the 26th floor in Count Alpha’s arms.

The beautiful knight moved carefully to safely escort the princess. Count Alpha’s thick thighs gripped the rope tightly.

Serena envied Lady Alpha, then remembered that Lady Alpha’s thighs would probably be similarly thick.

‘Baby Alpha. I’m envious.’

To continue envying baby Alpha, she had to safely return Count Alpha to his wife and child. Serena prayed they could get out of this damn labyrinth as quickly as possible.

Following Count Alpha and Serena, Hana, Ralph, and finally Ying climbed down the rope and arrived at the 26th floor.

“Fortunately, there were no attackers in the middle.”

“Gasp!”

The swindler spoke!

Hana widened her eyes and pointed at the guide while looking at Serena.

“Did you forget already? You can talk in the rest area.”

“Mmph?”

“The boundary between inside and outside the rest area is ambiguous, so keeping quiet is safer. Keep your mouth shut and look for labyrinth books. Let’s strike first before those guys ambush us.”

“Mmph!”

She had worried that Hana seemed to lightly dismiss the warning not to speak, but Hana absolutely wouldn’t open her mouth.

As Olive said, since the boundary was ambiguous and she wasn’t confident in distinguishing places where it was okay to talk, she seemed determined to keep her mouth shut entirely.

‘Right. If you’re not confident, that’s better.’

Serena handed the magic map to Hana. Red dots appeared on the magic map in Hana’s hands.

The positions of labyrinth books hiding in bookshelves around the rest area, waiting for a chance to ambush the group, were completely revealed.

“Kyaha, serves them right.”

The guide excitedly mocked the monsters.

The taciturn archer nocked an arrow to the bowstring, drew, and released. The arrow flew silently and hit the spine of one book among those packed tightly in the bookshelf.

The labyrinth book struggled and came out, then fell as it was. Seeing this, Olive scribbled something in her notebook.

-Don’t hit real books and tear them. If you’re not going to kill instantly, attack after they come out of the bookshelf.

Seeing this, Ying nodded and nocked an arrow to the bowstring again. An arrow with stronger force than before flew and embedded deeply in the book spine.

The labyrinth book died while stuck in the bookshelf without even a final flutter. Olive gave a thumbs up and approached the bookshelf with Hana.

Thud thud thud.

No matter where in the bookshelf they hid or how quietly, everything was useless before Hana’s ability.

The guide’s dagger stabbed book spines faster than blinking whenever Hana pointed out monsters. Serena didn’t even get a chance to try the magic paper she received from Grey.

Olive and Hana moved freely between the bookshelves. Ralph followed them diligently to protect the two, and Count Alpha remained by Serena’s side, rolling his gem-like eyes to guard the surroundings.

Ying gave up on the ambush and attacked the Labyrinth Book that had emerged from the bookshelf. Since they were ambushing from this side, the Labyrinth Book couldn’t perform its threatening area attack and collapsed weakly.

‘This is really overpowered.’

It was already overpowered with just the ability alone, but combined with the magic map, it became cheat-level overpowered. To put it a bit crudely, it was ridiculously overpowered.

‘Even considering she’s directionally challenged, it’s ridiculously overpowered.’

They say humans are creatures who always envy what they don’t have. The Princess, who had envied baby Alpha whose gender was unknown, now found herself envying Hana.

‘Honestly, that’s protagonist-level ability. If I had that ability.’

Serena, who had been letting her imagination run wild, gritted her teeth.

‘Ugh, no. I’m having idle thoughts because things are easy right now. Let me focus. This is a labyrinth.’

Serena concentrated her nerves to prepare for crises that could approach silently from anywhere at any time.

But the crises that usually came frequently were quiet today.

Serena wasn’t fooled.

‘They’re planning to make me let my guard down and then launch a surprise attack!’

Time passed without reward for gripping her pen tightly so she could cast necessary magic at any moment. Piles of Labyrinth Books accumulated around the Princess.

Since Labyrinth Books were placed right next to other Labyrinth Books, the moment one died, another would attack Olive and Hana.

The Labyrinth Books’ desperate attacks were certainly threatening, but they were all blocked by Ralph’s shield.

Serena was impressed by the Young Knight’s performance, blocking all the paper blades flying at arrow-like speed with his shield.

‘Where did he learn such techniques? Wow, truly someone destined to become a 5-star.’

Thanks to Hana’s ability, the party eliminated all the Labyrinth Books in the vicinity. Like a map swept clean by a meticulous player, all the red dots displayed on the magic map disappeared.

Olive and Ying spread out a large cloth, put the bundles of paper books in it, and made it into a bundle.

It would have been nice to bring a subspace bag, but it was unfortunate that Count Randy’s subspace bag was exclusive to the Count and couldn’t be borrowed.

“Hmm. The little young master will probably tell us to bring more. We can’t go to other floors, so are there more on this floor?”

“Mm-hmm!”

“Let’s see. Since they return to the lounge when they get far enough away. We can’t catch the ones over there.”

“Mm-hmm!”

Hana, frustrated that Olive couldn’t understand immediately like her siblings, beat her chest and suddenly grabbed a notebook and pen.

Although Hana had barely learned to read through Grey’s pressure lessons and Prince Willow’s gentle lessons, writing is originally twice as difficult as reading.

Hana couldn’t easily put her thoughts into writing. She only listed words, and even those were hard to read due to her terrible handwriting.

Finally, the Guide surrendered.

“This is a lounge, so it’s okay to talk. Say it out loud.”

Hana’s round eyes met the Princess’s. When Serena gave her a look, Hana finally opened her mouth.

“There are monsters in the floor.”

“What?”

The party, especially Count Alpha, was so startled that he immediately lifted Serena up.

Olive was also surprised and looked down at the floor. Only a soft carpet that absorbed sound was laid on the floor.

“There are carpet mimics on the 26th floor too? They’re not shown on the map? I would have known if I stepped on one.”

“That’s not it. Um. There are monsters below the floor.”

Olive, who had been surprised thinking she might have missed a carpet mimic, relaxed.

“If it’s below the floor, that’s monsters from the lower floor. I got worried for nothing.”

“It’s different from that. I can’t sense monsters from other floors in the first place.”

Hana showed the magic map displaying the 27th and 28th floors with no red dots.

“Outside the labyrinth, I can sense them even if they’re on different floors, but here I can’t sense them if they’re on different floors. I guess it’s because it’s a labyrinth.”

“What? Then you’re saying there’s a secret room in the 26th floor?”

Olive, annoyed, said whatever came to mind and then hesitated.

“Huh? Wait?”

“If what Hana sensed is correct, what you said seems to be the right answer.”

Everyone’s gaze fixed on the floor.

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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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