Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 43

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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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43. The Answer

Hearing Serena’s footsteps, Lavenda and Philia moved the cart aside. Before the cart was completely cleared, Serena squeezed through the open space into the lobby and pretended to kneel before the statue while touching it.

“Thank you!”

This was sincere. Olive, who could run faster than Serena but had matched her pace, shouted beside her.

“Give me some too!”

“Me too!”

When even Ying knelt down before the statue to join in, the two people who had remained in the lobby looked puzzled.

“What happened?”

“Lady Serena, what’s going on?”

“You two will be amazed to hear this! The Princess has shown us another miracle!”

Ralph’s eyes sparkled as he explained to the two who had stayed in the lobby.

“There are teleportation magic circles on the 1st and 5th floors! We can travel between them comfortably now!”

“Really?”

“It’s impossible for others. Only the Princess can do it!”

“As expected of Lady Serena! I wish I had been there too!”

“Amazing, Princess!”

More admiration and praise poured out than when Serena had made her first babbling sounds after reincarnation.

“This isn’t the time for this! We need to bring the frog legs!”

“Frogs?”

Lavenda looked puzzled at Ralph, who was covered in spider webs from head to toe yet talking about frog legs. Serena took the opportunity to suggest.

“Let’s all go together.”

“Yes!”

Ralph took the lead carrying a bucket. Without his armor, he would have looked exactly like a young boy going to catch frogs at a stream.

When Serena selected the floor number and they arrived at the 5th floor, everyone clapped in amazement. Ralph, who had never eaten rats but had caught and eaten many frogs, volunteered to butcher the Labyrinth Rat Leader.

Philia staggered slightly at the sight of the giant frog corpse but barely managed to endure it. She asked in a pitiful voice.

“Which do you think is better, rats or frogs?”

“Frogs.”

At least she had eaten frogs in her previous life. While there were no rat meat specialty restaurants, frog specialty restaurants occasionally appeared on TV. Ignorance is the mother of disgust and fear. Serena was definitely team frog.

“Then I’ll think frogs are better too. Yeah, they’re better than spiders.”

“The Countess doesn’t know anything, yo? Spiders are so delicious~”

“Lies! That can’t be true!”

“It’s true though? Zero! Spiders are delicious, right?”

“Agreed.”

“See? Even Zero says they’re delicious, yo.”

“How can you call something you ate in extreme situations while conquering labyrinths just to survive delicious! Are you mocking me!”

“Ah, it’s really true but you don’t believe me~”

Philia fled toward the people butchering frogs, not wanting to hear stories about eating spiders deliciously. Olive watched her leave with regretful eyes and licked her lips.

“They really are delicious though. But Princess.”

Olive, who had been feeling regretful, suddenly spoke to Serena.

“Do you know why labyrinth conquest is difficult?”

“I’m not sure.”

There were a few parts she could guess, but since she knew little about labyrinths themselves, it was all speculation based on games.

Anyway, there must be a reason why Olive asked such a question. Serena gestured with her eyes to hurry up and get to the point since she would listen.

“Usually, the higher the grade of a labyrinth, the wider and deeper it becomes.”

“That makes sense.”

“What troubles high-grade labyrinth explorers isn’t monsters or traps, but the depth of the labyrinth. Once you pass the 20th floor, you start getting anxious. After progressing to the 20th floor, will I be able to return alive?”

Strong monsters? They don’t work on veteran adventurers equipped with various magical weapons obtained from labyrinths. Traps? Same thing.

Lack of supplies. This slowly strangles adventurers. If it’s a floor with edible monsters like frogs, spiders, or rats, it’s fine.

Imagine several floors in a row with inedible monsters like golems, undead, or spirits. Despite bringing plenty, food gradually runs out.

You still have strength to go further, but you can’t proceed due to lack of food. When you tearfully try to return for supplies, what lies before the adventurer is a return journey lengthened by all their hardships.

You don’t have strength to go further but must return? Then it becomes even more miserable. Many adventurers died on their way out of labyrinths, falling to restored monsters and traps or dying from lack of food and water.

“The deeper you go, the more you don’t want to leave and the more dangerous it becomes. This gets worse for more skilled adventurers.”

“That makes sense.”

Serena understood what Olive said to her core. It was the same when playing games.

You desperately clear 99 floors without elevators or spatial movement. Clearing is fun, but what if you have to go back down to the 1st floor the same way?

That’s when you want to throw your gamepad or mouse.

If games played just for fun are like this, how much worse must it be for labyrinth explorers conquering labyrinths in reality?

“In the end, adventurers like us have no choice but to reluctantly carry loads of tasteless emergency rations. But it’s always insufficient, so every time we pass stairs, we pray. Please let there be bread trees and fountains on the next floor~”

“Hmm. I see.”

“But what if. What if all the sealed doors to leader’s chambers were teleportation-capable locations.”

“If they were?”

“We could conquer labyrinths without worrying about supplies! We could freely change party members too! Now we don’t need to abandon injured party members! We can exit the labyrinth once we reach a teleportation magic circle! This is a revolution!”

“Choose your words carefully in front of royalty.”

Though this world had no guillotines, hearing the word revolution made Serena’s neck feel as cold as if she had placed her head on one.

“No, really! With just that ability, you could do anything in labyrinths! Even the Empire would prostrate and bow saying ‘Welcome~’ if you wanted to enter Messa Labyrinth!”

Olive clasped her hands together like a dreamy child and closed her eyes. Her lips were full of smiles as if she was having beautiful fantasies.

“I hope Heuji’s Labyrinth will be the first and last labyrinth in my life.”

“Of course! That’s natural for the Princess! But that ability can only be used in labyrinths! Isn’t it a waste? Instead of that, can’t you tell me how I can open sealed doors too? I’ll convert my faith! I’m serious!”

After all that talk, the main point was ultimately ‘I want to open sealed doors and use warp too!’

“It’s an ability given by the gods, so I can’t say how I obtained it either. It’s all the will of the gods.”

“Don’t say that! No, then after we finish this labyrinth, want to go to another labyrinth with me? There’s one I’ve been eyeing in the south-central continent. Let’s go together when this ends! I’ll treat you well. Princess just needs to bring yourself!”

Olive clung to Serena’s hand with all sorts of aegyo. Serena understood her feelings. Even if Serena were a labyrinth explorer, she wouldn’t be able to give up a human elevator capable of using teleportation circles within labyrinths.

“What are you doing! You drove me away with bizarre stories and now dare to hold Lady Serena’s hand?”

Philia, who had fled from the spider-eating experience stories, returned with fire in her eyes.

“It’s nothing much~ Just scouting!”

“Lady Serena is a noble direct royal family member of the Kingdom of Heuji! A noble person who will become a queen or grand duchess of a nation! She would never do dangerous things like labyrinth conquest!”

“But she’s doing it right now, yo?”

Serena was indeed conquering Heuji’s Labyrinth in real time. Philia, left speechless, found fault with something else.

“Your manner of speech is extremely unpleasant to my ears!”

“You know well. I deliberately speak like this because I want it to be unpleasant to hear, yo.”

Philia, left speechless, clenched her fists and trembled.

“Lady Serena!”

Philia, losing the argument, requested help from her master. Serena forcefully pulled her hand free from Olive’s grip. It hurt a little where she was grabbed because Olive held tight, not wanting to let go.

“Right now I’m stepping forward out of necessity. I say again, Heuji’s Labyrinth will be the only labyrinth in my life.”

She was conquering labyrinths even while returning to save points when she died. But after leaving here, conquer more labyrinths? She’d rather walk the golden path than ever do that.

“Princess… I won’t give up, yo!”

Olive left with eyes dripping with lingering attachment, like a cheetah character who always tried hard to eat snacks. Philia, who remained, couldn’t contain her anger and chattered.

“My goodness! Good heavens! How does she think of Lady Serena to say such impudent things?”

“She’s that blinded by the ability I showed. She’ll just act like that briefly.”

You witnessed a companion character with spatial movement abilities in a frustrating game without spatial movement? You absolutely can’t let them go. From the moment you witness it, recruiting that companion becomes top priority. Serena understood Olive’s rudeness with a broad mind.

“All cut!”

Ralph smiled brightly as he carried the butchered frog legs in a bucket into the sealed door.

Look even now. Without Serena, they would have had to carry frog legs and struggle climbing from the 5th floor to the 1st floor, but using the teleportation device, they only moved a little on flat ground.

This was revolution itself. No, revolution was inappropriate for her status, so it was a great innovation.

Having shown innovation, Serena added one more innovation.

‘Purchase!’

In the lobby cramped with the tomb, fountain, and bread tree, there was barely space left to add a campfire. Serena used 3 coins to purchase an Eternal Campfire.

‘Next time I should expand the lobby first.’

After purchasing and installing even the campfire, the lobby’s free space was perfectly gone. Fortunately, the first lobby expansion cost 1 coin. Serena marked lobby expansion as her next purchase item.

As the campfire suddenly appeared, instead of being surprised, people worried about something else.

“Is it okay to have such a blazing fire? We’re short on firewood.”

“Ah, don’t worry. This campfire will never go out unless I extinguish it, and it can be maintained without firewood!”

“Wooooow!”

The 1st floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth was somewhat cool, probably because it was connected to the cave. Even when cold, they couldn’t light fires due to concerns about firewood and had to share each other’s warmth.

But now they had fire! It would never go out and didn’t need firewood! The party cheered and praised Serena.

“Being like this feels just like going on a picnic.”

Ralph didn’t know how sitting by a grave, lighting a fire, and roasting giant frog legs could feel like a picnic, but he seemed to be in good spirits anyway.

Ralph, who had been grinning while grilling the skewered frog legs, suddenly coughed.

“Did you inhale smoke? Are you alright?”

Lavenda, who was beside Ralph, gently patted the young knight’s back. Despite Lavenda’s caring touch, Ralph’s coughing grew increasingly severe.

“It’s, cough. It’s not that! Cough! Hack hack!”

Even though he was in front of the fire, the freckled boy’s complexion turned pale. Ralph dropped the skewer he was holding and clutched his throat with a pale face.

“Sir Ralph, what’s wrong?”

“Did the frog meat get stuck in your throat?”

Olive pushed Lavenda aside and removed Ralph’s plate armor. Then Ralph collapsed sideways, clutching his throat.

“Kyaaah! Sir Ralph!”

“Potion? Should we give him a potion?”

“Wait. We need to identify the cause first.”

Olive lifted the collapsed Ralph and was about to compress his stomach when she stopped moving.

“Olive, what’s wrong?”

“His body is cold. And it’s stiff.”

If frog meat had blocked his airway, his body wouldn’t be cold or stiff. Olive, who was hurriedly trying to check Ralph’s pulse, stopped her movement and coughed.

“Cough.”

“Olive?”

It was Olive coughing, but Serena felt as if her own breath was being cut off. Olive clutched her throat and collapsed sideways like Ralph. Lavenda screamed as she caught and laid her down.

“What’s happening to everyone?”

‘What? What is it? We were doing fine. There were no problems.’

They had successfully defeated the floor boss and opened the teleportation device to move between floors. Serena frantically searched her memory but couldn’t find any reason why the two would suddenly collapse.

“First, lay them down properly! Airway! Secure the airway!”

Lavenda shouted the emergency first aid manual she had learned during her apprenticeship as a masseuse. She seemed to have shouted it unconsciously in the chaotic situation, but thanks to that, Serena also came to her senses.

However, with the occurrence of additional patients, the rationality she had barely grasped ran away again.

“Ugh.”

Ying showed the same symptoms and collapsed to the floor.

“Kyaaaah!”

Although the setting was a tomb, three people who had been sitting around the campfire together, sharing warmth and eating, had collapsed. Philia was startled as if having a seizure and clung to Serena.

Lavenda, who had been shouting the emergency treatment manual, returned to the starting point of the manual and shouted from the beginning again before she could perform treatment appropriate for the current situation.

“Lady Serena! Lady Serena, are you alright? You are alright, right?”

“Airway secured, so breathing! Breathing!”

“Lavenda, wait! There might be poison in their mouths, so rather than artificial respiration, compress the chest… Poison?”

Serena unconsciously objected to the new manual content Lavenda was shouting, then remembered something important.

Serena examined Ralph’s nape. There were bite marks from a spider.

The same was true for Olive’s wrist and Ying’s ankle. Besides the minor bite wounds, each had one blackened, discolored wound. It was definitely the work of the same spider.

‘The black spider that bit Ralph. Ralph wasn’t bitten before the frog died, but right after killing it.’

On the 1st floor, all the minions summoned by the boss had vanished without leaving corpses. But on the 5th floor, the small black spider that bit Ralph remained even after the frog died, bit Ralph, and left a corpse in his hand.

All the other spiders had disappeared!

‘There was one more!’

In the 5th Floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth’s Leader’s Chamber, there was one more boss besides the frog. A deadly assassin with eight legs that deceived the party’s eyes with the giant frog, hid its existence among the swarm of summoned spiders, and attacked the party!

‘So this was it!’

The Princess finally figured out why the three hadn’t returned in the previous cycle, but the answer submission time had passed and it was marked as incorrect.

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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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