Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 52

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

52. Heuji’s Labyrinth 3rd Layer (2)

Serena pretended to pray while caressing the statue.

“Honey, take care of yourself. Please look after Lady Serena.”

“You be careful too, my lady. I will definitely protect Lady Serena.”

After Count Randy and his wife’s touching farewell, Serena, Ralph, Olive, Ying, and Count Randy used the teleportation magic circle to move to the 5th floor.

“Wow, really. I still can’t believe it. So convenient.”

“Agreed.”

“I won’t let my guard down this time. Please take care of me.”

The party caught their breath at the stairs leading to the 6th floor and descended. The stairs were still steep and long. After going down for some time, the stairs turned into a downward slope. It was more dangerous than stairs as they could slip.

Serena stepped more carefully than when going down the stairs, placing one foot at a time. It was torture as her muscles hadn’t fully recovered. Her thigh muscles trembled.

‘I need to do both physical training and meditation.’

After descending all the stairs, they came to a stalactite cave. The cave wasn’t long and straight. They could see the exit right away. Serena swallowed dryly.

‘They said the difficulty would increase.’

The difficulty was already high, so what kind of place would the 3rd layer be with even higher difficulty?

Olive, who went out first as the guide, stuck out her tongue.

“Nice scenery~”

“Scenery?”

Upon exiting the cave, the first thing that caught their eyes was the vast sky. A blue sky with floating white clouds greeted the party.

Below the vast sky stretched mountain peaks made of sheer cliffs and rugged rocks. Thin lines that could only be seen upon close inspection connected the peaks that pierced through the clouds.

The thin lines were bridges. A combination of swaying bridges that looked ready to collapse at any moment, and cliff faces and caves that could only be reached by crossing these bridges. Looking down, it was an endless thousand-foot chasm. White clouds hung like thick fog, obscuring what lay below the peaks.

“Sky? Aren’t those clouds? There’s wind blowing too!”

Ralph couldn’t close his mouth, finding it strange that they seemed to have emerged outside despite being trapped in the labyrinth, and kept looking around.

“Isn’t this outside the labyrinth? The sky is…”

“Knight, that’s all fake.”

“Weren’t we teleported to some high mountain? Maybe there’s a path if we go down.”

“That’s why I’m saying. It’s all fake. Why are you acting like someone who’s entered a labyrinth for the first time. Now that I think about it, it is your first time, right? Sorry!”

Olive licked her lips and prepared to explain, but the taciturn archer spoke first.

“One thing is correct.”

“What? Oh, right. One of the knight’s guesses is right. Exactly right.”

“What?”

“See that peak over there? If we go there, I think we’ll find stairs.”

Among the mountain peaks piercing through the clouds, something resembling a cave could be seen on a peak considerably lower than the mountain top where the party was standing.

So Ralph’s guess that there would be a path if they went down was correct. Olive patted the young knight’s breastplate, telling him to get his head together.

“You found the stair location before me. Not bad, huh? You did well, so snap out of it! This is a labyrinth. Anything can happen, and you can’t be surprised no matter what happens.”

“But the wind is…”

Was it because they had been in enclosed spaces all along and suddenly emerged into an open area where wind blew from all directions? Or was it because they had been descending all this time and suddenly arrived at a high mountain peak? Ralph simply couldn’t get his bearings.

Serena didn’t blame the young knight. She couldn’t get her bearings either. The distance from their current position to the peak where they guessed the stairs would be? Far. Incredibly far.

‘It’s huge. Did it get bigger because the difficulty increased? Is that it?’

Serena was appalled.

‘What… have I done?’

Seeing the disastrous results with her own eyes filled her with regret.

The guide, unaware that the 3rd layer’s vast area was because of the princess, diligently searched for a shorter route.

“Let’s see. Flying would be faster. Or maybe connecting with rope…”

The straight-line distance from the party’s current position to the peak with the stairs wasn’t that far. The problem was just the lack of a path.

As Olive pondered ways to shorten the route, the cry of a bird of prey echoed from afar.

Screeeeeech-!

A bird of prey circled above the highest mountain peak in the entire 3rd layer, higher than the peak where the party stood.

The flying monster was enormously huge. Considering the altitude at which it flew over the mountain, it should have looked tiny like a dot, yet it appeared similar in size to monsters flying at the same height as the party.

“That looks like a floor boss. We’re here to find stairs first, so let’s not engage it.”

“What if it comes to attack us?”

“It should be fine as long as we don’t get too close.”

Taking a shortcut might provoke the floor boss. Olive gave up on creating a shortcut.

“People should live with their feet on the ground. But I have a feeling. The path here is going to be nasty.”

Based on her experience, the guide predicted that the path to the stairs would be nastily winding. Olive consulted her magic map to determine their current position and the direction of their destination, then pointed to the path the party needed to take.

“Anyone have acrophobia?”

The wind blew strong enough to push people around, and the path on the cliff was narrow. With this structure, even those without acrophobia might develop it. Olive and Ying seemed only slightly startled, and Ralph, having been greatly shocked initially, seemed fine with the height itself.

‘Am I the problem?’

Serena was afraid of falling to her death. It ranked 3rd among her most feared ways to die. She hated the thought of falling to her death, and hated watching others fall even more. She had experienced such horrific scenes once too often.

“Huff, huff.”

In Serena’s mind flashed a noblewoman with purple hair just like hers. Serena shook her head vigorously and steadied her increasingly rapid breathing.

“Is the Count alright?”

Thinking that seeing someone else afraid might ease her tension, the princess turned to look at Count Randy and was slightly surprised.

She had expected Count Randy, being a desk worker, to naturally be trembling, but surprisingly his attitude was composed. His eyes were clear and his breathing steady.

“I’ve climbed cliffs before.”

Count Randy spoke confidently. Serena was truly amazed.

‘What did they make a precious alchemist do? Why did the magic tutor make him climb cliffs? Are they training special forces or something?’

She suspected he might have received actual special forces training, but she couldn’t ask about such military secrets. Serena imagined the harsh training Count Randy must have endured and sent him a lukewarm gaze.

“That must have been tough.”

“Yes. It was really difficult.”

Perhaps moved by his teacher’s kindness, Count Randy’s eyes grew moist.

“Everyone’s okay, right? Then let’s go!”

There was only one path the party could take. The swaying bridge connected to the opposite peak.

‘It looks like it’ll collapse.’

Looking at the rotting ropes, the broken and rotten wooden planks in places, the wind vigorously shaking the bridge, and the bottomless drop below, everyone groaned.

“It looks extremely dangerous.”

“We’ll have to cross one at a time.”

“Shall I repair it?”

The genius alchemist stepped forward to replace the old bridge with a new one. Since the Golden God isn’t a pushover, he’d need to pay gold coins and magic stones too.

That was a joke – the bridge couldn’t be traded. It seemed to be set as an unchangeable gimmick belonging to the labyrinth.

“Well, I cursed it for being heavy and useless, but it’s surprisingly handy.”

Horn weapon reinforcement, arrow materials, and so on. Olive took out rope that she’d found useful for many things.

Fortunately, the bridge pillars embedded in the cliff were sturdy. Olive tied the rope to the bridge pillar and pointed to the other side.

“I’ll go first and tie the rope, so come across one by one holding the rope!”

Olive didn’t seem afraid of the bridge that could collapse at any moment and bounced across. Thanks to that, she reached the other side in an instant.

Olive, who had secured the rope to the bridge pillar on the other side, waved her hand as a signal. Now the next person could go.

“Shall I go first? Or should the princess?”

When the princess had to take a dangerous path alone, was it right to send her first or last? Ralph was confused.

Serena worried about something else.

“Sir Ralph, won’t the weight of your armor be dangerous?”

“Ah! I forgot!”

Though the armor’s weight was distributed across the entire body so the wearer didn’t feel it was very heavy, the armor was considerably heavy. There was a high probability that the bridge’s wood or rope couldn’t withstand Ralph’s weight and would snap or break.

“Then I’ll take off my armor! But I still need to bring it… what should I do?”

If he took off the armor, he’d have to carry it himself, so the weight would be the same and it would become cumbersome. It was also strange to go back at the entrance to the 3rd layer because of armor.

“Just keep the breastplate, helmet, and shield, and I’ll store the rest in my bag.”

“What? Count, your bag is small so the armor won’t all fit. And it’s not a weight you should be carrying.”

‘Ralph. Don’t you get it yet?’

From Count Randy’s small bag had come and gone intricately crafted golden scales, potions in fragile thin glass bottles, long wooden blocks, and more, yet Ralph hadn’t noticed.

“The Count’s bag is a subspace bag. You don’t need to worry about weight and volume.”

“What? Those really exist? That’s more magical than magic!”

“All subspace bags can only be obtained in the Labyrinth, so you might not know.”

It was because of that subspace bag that Count Randy had been so confident even after falling into the Labyrinth with just a bag and wallet.

Ralph watched in amazement as the armor disappeared smoothly into the subspace bag.

“Then I’ll go first!”

Ralph crossed the bridge at a fairly fast speed, though slower than Olive. Halfway across, strong winds blew and the swaying bridge shook like a Viking ride, but he hung onto the rope and crossed the remaining half.

‘I can’t do that.’

A chill ran down Serena’s spine. Even if she somehow managed to hang on, moving like Ralph or holding on during the wind was impossible.

‘Is there a pattern?’

Usually, gimmicks like this where strong winds blow to hinder progress have a pattern to when the wind blows. You just need to figure it out and cross accordingly.

“Ying, you go across first.”

To observe the pattern, she suggested Ying cross first, and Ying silently raised her bow. It meant she would handle any attacks from flying monsters above.

“What about the Count?”

“I’ll go after Lady Serena.”

‘Ugh, I don’t want to fall to my death.’

If she fell from here, she’d probably spend a full hour trembling in fear before dying. As Serena hesitated and glared at the empty air, Count Randy held something out. It was leather gloves.

“The rope will chafe your hands.”

Serena put on the gloves and clenched and unclenched her fists. The palms had anti-slip treatment, making them better than bare hands.

Now that she had equipment, she had to go. The wind happened to be calm too, not even stirring a single strand of Serena’s hair. Though that might have been because it was greasy.

‘If I’m going, I’ll go quickly! Rush across!’

Serena gripped the rope tightly and ran vigorously across the swaying bridge. Her courage lasted exactly three steps.

‘It’s swaying!’

True to its name as a swaying bridge, even without wind, the bridge swayed in response to Serena’s movements.

‘The rope is swaying too!’

Even though Olive had tied the rope as taut as possible with all her strength, human power had its limits. Both the rope under her feet and the one she gripped for support were swaying in different directions, making Serena’s upper and lower body move separately.

The wind even grew stronger, shaking the Princess as if trying to knock her off the bridge.

“Kyaaaah!”

Screams didn’t stop coming from Serena’s mouth. She broke her lifetime record for high notes. Anyone hearing it might ask if she’d achieved enlightenment in singing.

‘Can’t stop, can’t stop, absolutely can’t stop.’

Fortunately, the wind calmed before her grip weakened. She absolutely couldn’t miss this opportunity. If the wind blew again, she’d let go of the rope and fall.

Serena supported her body by gripping the rope with her arms as her leg strength gave out and she nearly collapsed.

“Princess! Don’t look down, just look ahead and run!”

Ralph cheered for Serena from the other side. Serena gritted her teeth. If it were as easy as he made it sound, she would have already reached the other side.

Piyoook-!

Seeing Serena moving slowly across the bridge as good prey, a flying monster that had been circling high above dove down.

“Princess! Duck!”

The flying monster, which had been too high to see anything but wings, resembled a condor from animal documentaries. Its diving speed was so fast that it seemed to grow several times larger with each blink.

The bald raptor without feathers glared with vicious eyes and thrust claws larger than a face at its prey. They looked like dinosaur claw fossils from a museum.

Kieek!

The Labyrinth condor was just as defenseless. Arrows struck the wings and body of the condor diving toward Serena. The condor lost balance, spun around, and plummeted downward.

Piyoooooooooooooooooooooook.

No matter how long they waited, there was no sound of impact with the ground, only the bird’s screams carried up by the wind.

‘Ah, my leg strength is back.’

Seeing the Labyrinth condor’s claws that seemed ready to tear her face off right in front of her nose was so terrifying and shocking that her mind found peace again.

Knowing it was only temporary peace, Serena didn’t waste time and hurried across the bridge.

“Princess, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“Tell Zero thanks. But the condor fell down below. What a waste.”

Olive regretted the condor carcass that had fallen and couldn’t be retrieved. Serena also felt it was a shame since the feathers, beak, claws, and meat could all be used.

After Serena, it was Count Randy’s turn. Count Randy grabbed the rope with one hand and ran at full speed. Though slower than Olive or Ralph, he kept running without stopping.

‘How brave.’

She admired the Count’s courage, but as he got closer and his face became visible, it was covered in sweat and tears. He had been just as scared.

As soon as Count Randy stepped on solid ground, his legs gave out and he knelt down, expressing gratitude to his benefactor.

“Thank you for the tightrope walking training! Thank you so much, Master!”

‘What kind of training did they do? Why does gratitude sound like cursing?’

After pouring out gratitude and curses to his benefactor for a while, Count Randy calmed down and wiped his face with a handkerchief. The Count quickly tucked it away, worried his wife’s scent on the handkerchief might fade.

Finally, it was Ying’s turn to cross. The group was startled by strong winds that suddenly blew and battered their entire bodies.

“The wind!”

As if compensating for being calm until now, strong winds blew and made the bridge sway vertically. The wind showed no signs of stopping easily. They would have to wait quite a while for it to calm down.

“Zero can handle it alone, so should we look around inside?”

Perhaps bored with waiting, Olive pointed to the cave. Since she was the one who had said no solo actions, she chose a companion.

“Let’s see, if the rope breaks unluckily, it’s better to leave someone strong behind~ Princess! Let’s go!”

Serena had never agreed to go, but Olive strode into the cave. Serena had no choice but to follow the Guide.

The cave on the opposite peak was also a stalactite cave, just like the cave with stairs. It was dark without lighting, but Serena had learned something from falling into the Labyrinth, so she didn’t immediately create light.

“Is it okay to use light magic?”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

After asking Olive and confirming safety, she cast light magic.

The first cave they arrived at was convenient and nice with only one path, but this place was the complete opposite.

True to being a stalactite cave, it was full of various stalagmites and stalactites, curved pillars and winding paths. At a glance, it was hard to tell if something was a wall or pillar, or whether there was space behind it or not.

“The path is complicated.”

“The floor is slippery too. Be careful.”

Water pooled on the floor making it slippery, and water drops occasionally fell from the ceiling.

Serena wiped away water that had fallen on an awkward spot on her forehead and flowed down her cheek, then looked at her hand and was startled.

The temperature, texture, and color weren’t water. It was white, had a fishy smell, and was sticky. There were even some chunks in it.

‘What the!’

Cursing internally, Serena carefully moved the light orb to look at the ceiling. Several giant bats were gathered on the stalactite cave ceiling.

The giant bats seemed to be sleeping and didn’t move even when Serena and Olive talked below.

Olive wasn’t surprised, as if she already knew about the bats’ presence. Instead, she covered her mouth seeing the bat droppings flowing down Serena’s face.

“Princess, did you get hit by poop? How did that happen? Pfft. Hic.”

People can get hit by bird droppings or bat droppings in life. Living together, it can naturally happen.

But a Princess shouldn’t get hit by bird droppings or bat droppings. The moment it happens, she could be teased worse than a first-grade elementary student having diarrhea at school.

Olive, who had been snickering at Serena with a whistling sound, sensed something and dodged to the side. Bat droppings fell down.

“You have to dodge like this.”

This time Serena felt it too. Sensing an ominous feeling, she moved to the side and more bat droppings than what had hit her before crashed down. This time she dodged it. Her sigh of relief was brief.

Serena sensed a floor even more slippery and sticky than the cave floor and looked down. Bat droppings had pooled beneath her feet.

Krom’s boots, which Count Randy had adjusted to fit Serena’s feet, were soaked in bat droppings.

“Princess, this time you stepped in poop?”

This time she didn’t even have the energy to curse. Serena calmly caught her breath.

The commoner’s secret technique – Patience Against Unreasonable Customers breathing!

‘This is ominous.’

With the increased difficulty and all, this floor didn’t give her a good feeling.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————