Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 76

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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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76. Heuji’s Labyrinth 4th Floor

“Honey, you must return safely!”

“Of course! Following your words is my joy and happiness!”

As always, Count Randy and his wife are being lovey-dovey.

Serena stood before the statue with a reverent heart.

Her sibling, who she thought would give up quickly and come back to the 1st floor, never came, and a week had passed like that.

‘If he died within a week, I’ll give up.’

Life and death are matters of one’s own luck, and Serena couldn’t help beyond that point.

She hoped her sibling would survive and exit the labyrinth, but she couldn’t keep worrying about his life and death while saving forever.

‘Don’t forget, Serena. Your goal is to save 100,000 people.’

It would be best if her living sibling was included in those 100,000, but if he kept dying, she had to give up at some reasonable point.

Serena touched the statue more reverently than usual.

“Kiyathow!”

“Yahoo!”

They rode the zipline on the 3rd layer and moved to the stairs that Seraph and the priests had used.

Serena lost half her stamina just from riding the zipline, while Olive and Ralph laughed gleefully, saying it was fun.

Holding a staff and walking still felt unfamiliar and strange.

“Once you get used to it, it will help preserve your stamina.”

“It better.”

Just as Serena had gained a weapon, other people’s equipment had also been reinforced.

Thanks to the workshop, Count Randy, who could now properly practice alchemy, had enhanced the assault team’s equipment.

‘Since the enhancement materials were silver, Olive suffered terribly.’

Since there were no precious metals like gold and silver among the ingots from the treasure chests, they had no choice but to use silver coins to plate the weapons.

With this, they had also completed preparations to face the undead.

“So, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Indeed.”

“….”

“Then this is where it really begins. Steel your hearts.”

Serena created orbs of light in advance and made them float.

As always, the guide went down the stairs about ten steps ahead.

The knight following behind asked the guide.

“We’ll be going down about 10 floors, so is this where it starts?”

“Labyrinths with difficulty grade 5 or higher start showing their true colors from around the 10th floor.”

Tension lingered on the freckled face.

The young boy’s Adam’s apple moved greatly as if he had swallowed dry saliva.

“True colors, you say?”

“Each labyrinth has what you might call characteristics or personality. From the 10th floor, that starts showing in earnest.”

“My master said that quickly grasping a labyrinth’s characteristics makes conquest easier.”

The party shared information as they descended to the 4th layer.

“Companions…”

The one watching them from afar half-closed his single eye and fell into contemplation.

“Might not be bad?”

Should he try making companions the next time he meets someone?

Richard made a light decision and ran toward the direction where other stairs were located.

***

The stairs were shorter than those on the 2nd layer.

As they descended the stairs, it grew darker, so Serena created one more orb of light.

When they reached the end of the stairs, even two orbs of light became insufficient.

The lighting created by magic could illuminate at most a range of about five steps.

Though the priests had given them advance warning, the 4th layer was truly pitch black.

Like a person’s life, it was so dark that one couldn’t distinguish even a step ahead.

“The stairs end here, so everyone watch your step!”

People carefully descended the stairs one step at a time to avoid missing their footing.

They finally reached the floor, the 4th layer, but it was so dark they couldn’t see anything.

“The floor and walls are brick.”

It felt dry and cool, with the stuffy air characteristic of stone buildings.

Perhaps because they had heard there were undead here, it seemed like a rotting smell was wafting over.

“It’s darker than expected.”

“Be careful coming down.”

Serena sent an orb of light for Ying, who was coming down the stairs at the very back.

Ying paid no heed to the darkness and bounced down the stairs several steps at a time as usual.

When Serena was about to scold her, the archer beat her to it.

“I can see well.”

“You can see well? Zero, even if you insist you have good night vision, there’s a limit.”

“Darkness does not hinder me.”

While others were puzzled, Serena was convinced.

It was very logical that the faithful servant of darkness could see well even in the dark.

Indeed, Ying’s eyes standing in the darkness shone like the eyes of a beast encountered at night.

Seeing the archer’s eyes gleaming strangely, people didn’t question it further.

“This is serious.”

Olive lit her lantern.

It illuminated the surroundings more widely than the magically created orbs of light, but about ten steps was the limit.

As if it wouldn’t allow any more light, the darkness devoured the illumination.

Serena created orbs of light equal to the number of party members and positioned them at regular intervals.

“Combat aside, we can’t see anything at all, so how are we supposed to explore the labyrinth like this…”

Olive, perhaps feeling burdened as the guide, constantly grumbled while taking the lead.

“Zero, you said you could see well, right? If you discover anything, you need to let us know immediately.”

“Understood.”

Fortunately, the path was straight and there were no traps. Olive advanced at a slow pace for her.

“There seem to be no traces of the Prince and the priests’ party.”

“It’s so dark that even if there were traces, we probably couldn’t find them.”

“Lady Serena, please blink frequently so your eye doesn’t get tired.”

Count Randy was concerned about the health of Serena’s single eye.

As Count Randy said, her eye felt strained, perhaps from forcing herself to concentrate when she couldn’t see.

As Serena stopped to rub her eye, Ying drew her bowstring and said.

“Enemy.”

The arrow that left the string made a dull sound as it struck something.

Olive, who still couldn’t grasp the enemy’s appearance and location, gritted her teeth.

“You can’t just say that! You need to tell us where and how many enemies there are!”

“Front, one creature, getting closer. 20 steps, 15 steps.”

“Now I can see it too!”

Revealed from the darkness was a pure white, slender body full of holes that wasn’t much affected even when hit by an arrow. Its sharp beak was captivating, and its wing bones, leg bones, and clawed feet were somehow familiar.

Ckawk-ki-ho-awk!

A skeleton labyrinth chicken made a murky cry while flapping its bone-only wings.

The undead’s fear that hates the living induces status ailments like terror or confusion, but the party resisted the undead’s mental attack.

Olive quickly retreated and Ralph struck the skeleton chicken with his shield.

The skeleton chicken’s ribs shattered and its body was destroyed, but the undead didn’t give up and swung its claws while trying to peck at something with its beak.

Ralph struck the bone fragments making a commotion on the floor with the silver-plated hammer he had prepared for the 4th Layer.

When the parts that could attack like the beak and claws were destroyed, the skeleton chicken stopped moving.

“They said undead would appear, but chicken bones are walking around?”

Olive clicked her tongue looking at the shattered bone remains.

Count Randy also wore a serious expression.

“A skeleton indeed. To think skeletons would appear on the 11th Floor. I heard they usually don’t appear until after the 20th Floor.”

Undead. A general term for monsters that rise from dead corpses or through unknown forces to attack the living.

In this world where the god of death actually exists, there were various reasons for becoming undead.

Death deliberately made them undead, forgot to collect their souls, ignored them because they didn’t want to collect them, avoided death through their own power, evil beings controlled the corpses, and so on.

There is a common law that applies to all these various undead.

The closer undead are to the form of death, the more powerful they are.

Zombies that died recently are the weakest, skeletons with rotted flesh leaving only bones are stronger, and evil spirits that lost even those bones and their physical form, leaving only souls, reign as the strongest in the undead world.

It was understandable that Count Randy was surprised since a skeleton appeared as a regular monster wandering the labyrinth, not even a Floor Boss.

Count Randy immediately examined the skeleton bone fragments.

“The unholy aura is strong. Everyone be careful.”

Count Randy threw the bone fragments on the ground.

The bones of a twice-dead skeleton were useless trash unless used as dark magic materials.

“I really hate undead! They don’t drop byproducts, they’re broke, they rapidly wear down weapon durability, and the death aura makes you feel terrible too!”

Indeed, Serena also felt bad due to the aura of death even though she didn’t participate in combat.

Having a constitution sensitive to mana, she reacted sensitively to such auras as well.

“Lady Serena, are you alright?”

“I’ve fought undead on the 1st Floor. I’m fine, so don’t worry.”

“Skeletons have stronger death aura than zombies. If it becomes difficult, please let us know anytime. The same goes for everyone else. The death aura emitted by undead affects the mind, so if you feel something is strange, please speak up immediately.”

Ying retrieved the arrow from among the skeleton’s remains.

Thanks to the silver plating on the arrowhead, the arrow was unharmed.

“Zero, you can do close combat too, right? I’ll focus on finding the way, so please.”

Olive handed Ying a newly acquired silver-plated hand axe, like Ralph’s hammer.

When Ying remained silent, Olive said silence meant agreement and arbitrarily pushed the hand axe onto her.

It was good to give a close combat weapon to the archer who was the only one who could see well in the darkness, but another problem arose.

When new enemies appeared, Ying moved alone without telling the party.

When the party hurriedly searched for the archer who had disappeared into the darkness, she had already chopped up the skeleton chicken with the axe by herself.

“Hey! If you have complaints, say it with words!”

“Miss Ying! That was too dangerous!”

“This isn’t a solo conquest, so please restrain yourself.”

As if she really didn’t like the hand axe Olive had pushed on her, Ying returned the hand axe to the guide.

Serena held back a sigh and pressed her forehead.

‘She’s called a child of darkness, so doesn’t she have some kind of skill?’

“Ying. Could you perhaps make us see well in the darkness like you do?”

“Princess, how great would that be. But that’s not possible! Right?”

“Possible.”

“What?”

Ying pointed at Serena and said.

“Possible.”

She looked at Count Randy and said the same thing. She shook her head at Olive and Ralph.

“Impossible.”

“Hey! What’s the criteria!”

Whether Olive protested or not, Ying spoke again to Serena and Count Randy, whom she said were possible.

“Only one person possible.”

“Please do it for Lady Serena.”

At the news that she could make only one person see well even in darkness, Count Randy yielded.

He had been constantly worried that the Princess’s single eye’s vision might deteriorate.

Ying stood in front of Serena and made her close her eyes.

When she closed her eyes, something slightly cool and soft touched her eyelids and then withdrew.

“If you wanted to kiss the Princess, you should have said so.”

The cool and soft thing seemed to have been Ying’s lips.

She thought she only had a cool beauty appearance, but it seemed her body temperature was lower than others.

Ying’s presence moved away, and Serena opened her precious single eye.

Honestly, she was uncertain.

“I can see well.”

It wasn’t like seeing well when in a bright place. The world was still black. Only black.

But among the same black colors, the boundaries of objects were clearly visible.

It was different from the night vision cameras or night vision goggles she had seen in her previous life, and there was no way to explain it.

“Really? How can you see well?”

“It’s hard to explain unless you experience it yourself. It’s just equally dark but I can see well.”

Perhaps because she didn’t need to concentrate, her eye definitely felt more comfortable.

Count Randy was pleased and Ralph also clapped his hands in joy.

“Hey, Zero! Do it for me too!”

“Impossible.”

“So what’s the criteria! Don’t tell me it’s whether kissing is possible or not? The Princess is one thing, but Count Randy is a married man! What’s wrong with me! I’m Winds of the Wilderness!”

“Um… Miss Olive. I think both the Princess and Count Randy have received divine protection. Perhaps that’s how she determines possible or impossible…”

“If it’s impossible because you’re worried it might become serious, I could accept it with my broad magnanimity!”

“Two skeleton chickens appeared 50 steps ahead.”

“It’s frustrating not being able to see! Kiss me too!”

Was this karma for repeatedly switching relationships and driving away lovers who said ‘how can love change’ by calling them pathetic?

For different reasons, but Olive craved a kiss and leaped into the darkness where she couldn’t see an inch ahead.

The skilled labyrinth explorer with long experience defeated the skeleton chickens by instinct just from hearing their location.

Serena, who watched the combat, said to the archer.

“I guess you don’t need to kiss her.”

Ying silently shrugged her shoulders.

***

About 30 minutes by feel, no. The guide said it was meaningless to measure time in the labyrinth, so it was better to count steps instead.

They didn’t know exactly how far they had walked since they stopped counting after a thousand steps, but after walking over a thousand steps and a bit more, the party arrived at a crossroads.

It was a cross-shaped intersection.

There was one dark path where you couldn’t see an inch ahead like the path the party had walked so far, and two bright paths as if telling them to forget the darkness.

The boundary between darkness and light was clearly divided as if measured with a ruler or cut with a knife.

There were three choices.

Before pondering at the crossroads, the party was amazed by the mysterious phenomenon.

“Wow, how can it be so perfectly divided?”

“There are no shadows on this side.”

The darkness was strange, and the light was strange too.

When eyes adapted to darkness met bright light, it was blindingly painful.

Everyone squinted and tried to adapt to the light when Ying suddenly shouted.

“My eyes!”

The archer who had been excited in the darkness covered her eyes and made a fuss.

Not Olive, but Ying making a fuss?

At this rare display of dramatics, they waited quietly, and Ying pointed to the dark path.

“I prefer this side.”

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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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