Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 331

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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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331. Labyrinth Prison (1)

‘Kyaaaah!’

Serena let out a soundless scream while quickly surveying her surroundings to assess the situation.

With her vision reduced by half compared to others, she had no choice but to turn her head as well.

Turning her head to the completely defenseless left side, Serena discovered something very welcome and felt relieved.

“Have we been separated again?”

She hadn’t noticed when first transported because she was facing the wall directly, but Ralph was behind Serena.

The soundless scream turned into a soundless cheer.

‘Wow! This is much better!’

It was disappointing that it wasn’t Ying or Olive, but thinking differently, it was better than traveling with Count Randy alone.

Knight and mage. Vanguard and rear guard. The combination was just right.

“I will protect the Princess until we meet with everyone.”

“Don’t forget your own safety. You are my person.”

The young boy’s freckled cheeks burned red.

She must have felt relieved not to be alone. Now, as she tried to assess the surrounding situation in earnest, Ralph made a loud noise.

“Ah!”

“What’s wrong?”

“My, my sword is gone! Both of them are missing!”

“What?”

Ralph looked at his empty waist with a tearful expression. The Young Knight had tears hanging at the corners of his eyes as he hastily made excuses.

“I, I really brought my sword! I didn’t leave it in the lobby. I could feel the weight properly when coming down the stairs, but when I arrived here, my waist suddenly felt light. I really didn’t forget it.”

Ralph’s excuse was long and his teardrops grew larger.

‘I saw Ralph equip his sword too. Why is he making such desperate excuses?’

The Young Knight sniffled.

“I really didn’t do it on purpose. I wasn’t confused either.”

Looking at the freckled boy with tears welling in his eyes, Serena recalled her first meeting with the knight.

‘Ah, right. There’s a precedent.’

Ralph Hanson had a criminal record of impersonating a capital guard while wearing a wooden sword instead of a real one, and carrying only a single spear without bringing a dagger or shield.

It was more Double Hanson’s fault for underestimating raising quadruplets than Ralph’s mistake, so she had forgiven him with consideration.

The Princess, who was about to comfort the knight saying it wasn’t such a big mistake, hesitated.

‘No. Honestly, I only let it slide because I could regress, but if I couldn’t regress, I would have really resented him.’

She might have written ‘Ralph, inadequate equipment’ as the cause of death in her will.

Anyway, it was a thing of the past, and after that, the crimes Ralph committed seemed trivial compared to the major incidents that kept exploding.

As a regressor, Serena had lived several times longer than others, so her memory was hazy.

But Ralph seemed to have kept it in his heart all along.

Ralph continued making excuses while showing a black shield engraved with a lioness face.

“Please look at this. I brought my shield and my sword together. Sniff.”

“Calm down. I also saw with my own two. Ahem. I clearly saw Count Ralph equip his sword.”

Clank.

A sound made by a third party, not the two of them, was heard. And it came from the corridor outside the cell.

‘A monster? Or a separated party member? Or maybe one of the 100,000 people who fell into the labyrinth?’

Serena tensed up and reached out to grab the magic staff that should be floating beside her. Her hand cut through empty air.

‘Huh?’

Serena turned her head to where the magic staff should be. The magic staff should be floating beside Serena, but nothing was visible.

‘My staff is gone too!’

Clank clank. The sound of metal hitting metal grew closer.

Serena urgently tried to prepare magic without a staff, but as her movements became larger, she discovered a bundle of magic paper that hit her chest.

Fortunately, the golden pen and magic paper hadn’t disappeared and remained intact.

Serena gripped the golden pen tightly. Ralph also enlarged his shield and stood in front of the iron bars door, the only passage through which the owner of the presence could enter.

Clank clank. The owner of the sound revealed itself between the bars.

It was someone wearing full plate armor. They wore a metal helmet with only eye holes for defense priority. An iron mace hung at their waist, and the gleam in their eyes visible from the side was.

‘It’s a monster.’

Truly menacing. It didn’t show as much killing intent as an undead, but like a labyrinth monster, it was filled with mechanical hostility to kill adventurers.

The monster in plate armor didn’t stop in front of the cell door where Serena and Ralph were, but passed right by.

Clank clank.

The two who had been on guard only relaxed their tension after the footsteps grew distant and faint.

“Hah.”

“An armored knight monster. Co, could it be a Death Knight?”

Ralph, who wasn’t as sensitive to magic and morale as Serena, tensed up.

Death Knight. In other words, a Death Knight. A high-level undead monster that would freeze the heart, carry blood-red flags, and bring darkness.

Though it was synonymous with high-level undead monsters, in this world Death Knights had a strong tendency to be fictional monsters that only existed in folk tales, legends, and myths.

‘Illegal undead can’t utilize their living skills well.’

When a knight died and became undead, it was called a Death Knight, but that was just an armored undead.

Even if the armor provided good defense for the moment, the undead’s unholy aura would corrode the armor, so it would disappear quickly.

To maintain the setting of a strong knight undead that comes to mind with Death Knight, the power of a powerful sorcerer or necromancer was essential.

Since both were rare, Death Knights were as hard to see as real necromancers.

However, perhaps because knight undead gave a cooler and stronger impression than soldier undead, Death Knights commonly appeared in creative works.

They especially appeared regularly in heroic tales and adventure novels that Ralph liked.

Serena immediately cleared up the knight’s misunderstanding.

“I didn’t feel any undead aura. It seems to be a different monster.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief.”

Serena also conveyed the tragedy she had just discovered.

“Not only your sword but my magic staff has also disappeared.”

“Yes. And I just realized my dagger is gone too.”

The knight made an additional report. Since daggers had many uses, all assault team members carried at least one.

Serena felt around her person.

‘It’s gone.’

Serena’s dagger had also disappeared. In short, all of their weapons had vanished.

Even Ralph, the embodiment of optimism, couldn’t bear this and frowned.

“Have all our weapons disappeared?”

“Yes. They must have disappeared during transport. It’s definitely a rule and characteristic of this floor that Olive always talks about.”

The Princess and knight checked their belongings. Only weapons like swords and daggers had disappeared, while other luggage remained intact.

“It seems only weapons have disappeared.”

“It’s fortunate that our armor remains!”

Ralph quickly regained his spirits. Serena also felt somewhat relieved looking at the golden pen and bundle of magic paper in her hand.

‘It would be better if armor disappeared and only weapons remained.’

Though they faced the same situation, the Princess and knight’s reactions were very different. The Princess grumbled complaints inwardly while the knight.

“There are also attack techniques using shields. I will fight too.”

He thought first about what could be done with a shield.

Serena tried to emulate Ralph’s positive thinking as she truly surveyed the surroundings this time.

The place they had been transported to was a small square space. Three sides were stone walls made of solid stone, and the remaining side had a door made of iron bars.

In the corner of the room was a toilet that looked old but unused, and on the opposite side from the toilet were two mat-like things. It might have been her imagination, but there seemed to be a musty and unpleasant smell.

Since it was a narrow space, there wasn’t much else to investigate. Serena quickly reached a conclusion.

“It’s like a prison.”

“It looks like a prison!”

Whether you had one eye or two, the conclusion was the same.

This naturally allowed them to deduce the identity of the monster that had appeared earlier and glanced at them before leaving.

“The armored monster that appeared earlier must be a guard of this prison.”

“There’s even a guard. It really is like a prison.”

As always, the Labyrinth stayed true to its concept. Serena smiled bitterly.

“We’ve been locked in prison.”

Prison. It wasn’t even a real prison since it was the Labyrinth, but Ralph’s eyebrows drooped as he felt inexplicably anxious and scared.

“I can’t say for certain we’re trapped, but we are definitely trapped.”

Serena pulled and pushed the barred door before withdrawing her hand. Since the only door was locked, they were indeed trapped.

‘Well, look at this.’

Serena crossed her arms and glared at the locked door.

‘Not only did it forcibly disband the party, but now it’s locking us in prison? Is this a gimmick where some party members are imprisoned while others rescue the trapped party?’

Or it could be a floor where the goal was for each person to escape prison after being randomly teleported to cells.

“Do you think the others are also locked in different cells?”

“Who knows. At least the cell across from us is empty.”

“The others might be in adjacent cells or nearby. I’ll make some loud noise.”

‘Should I stop him? No. Surely they won’t attack just because we made some noise in prison?’

If a Guard Monster came, they’d have to fight without weapons.

‘Actually, that might be better for gathering information? Let’s try making noise first.’

When Serena nodded, Ralph struck the iron bars with his shield.

The metal clashing created an unpleasant but hard-to-ignore noise. Ralph added his voice to it.

“Is everyone safe!”

He made enough noise to wake even sleeping people with curses, but no sounds from others could be heard. The Guard Monster he’d worried about didn’t come either.

‘What do we do now? Should we just wait?’

If separated from the party, leave a mark and wait quietly in a safe place. That’s what Olive had said when they started conquering the Labyrinth.

At least the cell they were locked in had no dangerous elements, so it was safe.

It seemed like a good idea to keep making noise while waiting for others to come rescue them.

“Princess.”

While she was thinking so hard that stone dust seemed to fall from her bad stone head, Ralph called out.

“What is it?”

“I think I can break this door.”

The Labyrinth had distorted time and space, and this applied to facilities within the Labyrinth as well.

Even if the space between bars was wide enough for a person to pass through, it would be absolutely blocked, and wooden walls and doors that looked like they could be burned or broken were sometimes as solid as iron fortresses.

But you couldn’t give up from the start. Sometimes walls and doors that could be destroyed would appear.

“Doesn’t Miss Olive usually have me do it when breaking walls or doors? Thanks to that, I think I know a bit. This door will break.”

It was true that guides could tell when they gained experience. Serena was impressed by Ralph’s growth.

‘Ralph! All that crying “Ralph, Ralph” while breaking walls paid off!’

The Young Knight had never cried out his name while charging, but it was proper etiquette to repeatedly shout names when doing body slams.

Ralph raised his shield as if ready to execute immediately once Serena gave permission.

To break or to wait. That was the question.

Serena made stone dust fall from her rock-like head as she pondered again.

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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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