Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 88

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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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88. 4th Layer of Heuji’s Labyrinth Strategy (4)

Monster composition and encounter locations could vary with each regression.

Though it was just Serena’s personal thought, she believed that rewards from treasure chests, unless they were key items like the magic lantern, likely changed with each regression as well.

But for the floor boss composition to change?

The combination Serena remembered was this:

Two Goblin Champions, one Goblin Archer, one poison-dart shooting goblin riding a Labyrinth Chicken, and one Goblin Shaman – a fine goblin party.

But the goblin party now before Serena had become even finer than she remembered.

Two Goblin Champions, one Goblin Archer, one poison-dart shooting goblin riding a Labyrinth Chicken, and one Goblin Shaman.

Up to this point it was the same, but here one Goblin Rider carrying a flag on a Labyrinth Chicken had been added.

“A Goblin Rider? That guy’s really hard to see!”

Olive’s eyes widened when she saw the Goblin Rider. But she didn’t stop what she was doing.

“Go, Sir Knight! If you’re a knight, you should be able to handle a goblin party alone!”

“Yes! Hyaaaah!”

Kiiiiik!

The Goblin Champion’s battle cry clashed with Ralph’s shout. Thus the battle began.

Olive took out jerky and distributed it to the other party members.

For Ying, who had an arrow nocked in preparation for emergencies, she put jerky in her mouth so she could eat it easily.

“Would you like some too, Princess?”

“No, I’m fine.”

‘Why? Why is it different?’

Serena’s single amber eye wavered as it swept across the Leader’s Chamber.

She was confident at spot-the-difference games, but comparing with memory was difficult.

Fortunately, Serena quickly discovered what was different from her memory.

‘Were the crystal colors like that before?’

The light and darkness crystals that greeted the party first upon reaching the 15th Floor. The light crystal was shining more intensely than Serena remembered, while the darkness crystal had lost its energy and looked withered.

‘Light and darkness. Does the boss get strengthened or change type depending on which path we took more?’

Since they already knew the way, Serena’s party had chosen the Path of Light and proceeded to the Leader’s Chamber via the shortest route.

If as a result the light’s proportion increased and a party member was added to the goblin party?

‘Mm. That’s logical.’

The mystery was solved. Serena could now focus comfortably on watching the fight, but.

‘This is disadvantageous?’

Ralph was being pushed into defense, making her feel uncomfortable again.

The Goblin Champions boosted the party’s attack power and morale with their battle cries.

The Goblin Shaman was ominously muttering something in the back, and the Goblin Rider skillfully controlled the Labyrinth Chicken while striking at Ralph’s openings.

With the Goblin Archer’s arrows and poison darts joining in, it was clear that Ralph was struggling just to defend.

“Tsk. Can’t be helped.”

Olive, who had been chewing jerky while watching the young knight’s hard struggle, disappeared. When Serena noticed Olive was gone and looked around to find her, she heard the sound of a goblin’s throat being cut.

Olive lightly spun her dagger to shake off the blood, then disappeared from Serena’s sight again.

As Serena blinked in surprise, she heard Olive’s voice from beside her.

“I got one, so cheer up!”

“Huh.”

“Oh my, what a surprise. Princess, you startled me.”

Somehow Olive had returned to her original spot without anyone noticing when or how.

Serena was so surprised she asked the guide for her secret.

“How did you do that? I clearly saw you, but you suddenly disappeared.”

“That’s a secret, of course~”

Olive grinned.

“What should I do~ If Princess leaves here and conquers a labyrinth with me, I might tell you!”

“Then forget it.”

“Don’t be like that~ Aren’t you curious?”

“Sir Ralph! Keep it up!”

Serena ignored her and cheered for Ralph.

The knight attempted an attack through the gap created by one missing Goblin Champion, but it kept missing or being blocked.

Then, the Goblin Rider who had retreated blew the horn at his waist.

Buuuuung-.

The strangely shaped horn had a better tone than expected. But the result wasn’t good.

Kiiiiik!

One Goblin Champion appeared in response to the horn sound. The champion immediately let out a battle cry and joined the fight.

“Huh! I call dibs on that horn!”

Olive pointed at the Goblin Rider’s waist. Count Randy, who had been watching the situation, stepped forward.

“Sir Ralph seems to be struggling alone, so we should help him.”

“I was just about to do that. Zero!”

Ying chewed jerky with an expressionless face while shooting an arrow.

The target was the Goblin Rider summoning goblins.

The arrow, shot with even the goblin rider’s reaction predicted, flew toward the rider but suddenly lost power and tumbled in midair.

“Tch.”

Ying clicked her tongue and pointed at the Goblin Shaman with her chin.

“The shaman is interfering.”

The Goblin Shaman hadn’t joined the fight and had been muttering something the whole time – it had been casting spells to lower enemy accuracy rates.

As if she wouldn’t lose to mere spells, Ying changed her stance and nocked five arrows on her bowstring.

‘Wow, not a triple shot but a quintuple shot!’

Serena expected Ying to show something amazing and blinked to provide moisture to her eyes so she wouldn’t miss a moment, but.

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

The five arrows Ying shot were caught in a small whirlwind the Labyrinth Chicken created with its cry, breaking or bending before falling to the ground.

Olive shook her head.

“As expected, their abilities are good once past the 10th floor. The arrowheads are silver-plated so retrieve them later since they’re expensive.”

“My arrows…”

The archer who had suddenly lost five arrows showed the eyes of a cow being dragged to slaughter for the first time in a while.

Serena pressed her forehead and prepared attack magic.

The Goblin Shaman’s spells could only lower physical attack accuracy rates and couldn’t affect magic.

What determined attack magic accuracy was the mage’s skill.

“What I desire is ice that pierces enemies.”

Thanks to training while listening to Grey’s nagging, Serena simultaneously created three ice arrows.

One for the shaman, one for the rider, and she kept the other to shoot again at whichever failed.

The Goblin Rider controlled the Labyrinth Chicken to easily dodge the ice arrow flying in a straight line. Serena raised the corner of her mouth.

‘Got you.’

She had shot the ice arrow simply in a straight line because she expected that a highly mobile rider would easily dodge it with minimal movement.

The princess concentrated and twisted the trajectory of the ice arrow that was flying straight and about to embed in the ground.

Squawk!

The ice arrow hit the Labyrinth Chicken’s rear. The Labyrinth Chicken thrashed about and the Goblin Rider crashed to the ground. Serena shot the remaining ice arrow at the Goblin Rider.

The ice arrow pierced the Goblin Rider’s head. Thin ice formed at the pierced area before melting, causing blood to flow slightly delayed.

Last remaining was the Goblin Shaman. Serena thought that with the shaman’s large head and thin limbs, its movements would be sluggish and it wouldn’t be able to dodge the ice arrow.

As Serena expected, the Goblin Shaman didn’t move to dodge the ice arrow. Instead, it created a fireball in midair to intercept the ice arrow.

The spell casting speed was excellent, but the fireball disappeared as soon as it touched the ice arrow. The ice arrow melted slightly and became a bit blunt at the tip, but maintained its speed and hit the Goblin Shaman’s body.

Kiaaaak!

The shaman let out a pitiful scream and collapsed.

‘Monster spells can’t beat magic of the same grade.’

This was written in the basic theory book Serena read when she first learned magic.

That spells used by monsters were racial characteristics.

That’s why each monster has limitations on the types and schools of sorcery they can use, and when sorcery and magic of the same rank clash, magic will always win unless the mage is completely incompetent.

‘Since it was taught by gods.’

Magic structured by gods versus sorcery that can simply be used by being born as that race. Isn’t it obvious which one is more solid? Sorcery didn’t even have a governing god.

Kik! Kiik!

The Goblin Shaman shed tears of blood while muttering something at Serena, then finally died.

The source of the curse that had been lowering their accuracy disappeared, and one strong enemy was eliminated.

Ralph didn’t miss this opportunity and swung his sword at a speed invisible to Serena’s eyes, finishing off the remaining goblins.

Clap clap clap.

Olive and Count Randy applauded the two who had performed well in battle.

“Well done. Very well done! You! Excellent!”

“Lady Serena, you were truly magnificent. With this level of skill, you could make a name for yourself as a battle mage anywhere on the continent.”

What was she supposed to do with a princess calling herself a battle mage, but at least it was useful within the labyrinth.

[You have defeated the Floor Boss. Shop 1 coins have been awarded.]

Serena looked back on her performance with a proud heart.

‘Not bad.’

As a member of the labyrinth assault team, she finally felt like she was pulling her own weight.

Unlike the proud princess, the knight hung his head low.

“I wanted to handle it alone, but I was inadequate. I apologize.”

“No, no! There was a rider. When that guy’s around, the goblins get a bit stronger. You did enough!”

“Because Sir Ralph was blocking the goblins in front, I could cast attack magic with peace of mind. You did well.”

“Thank you for trusting me! Next time, I’ll work harder and do better!”

“Then~ as I said earlier, this horn is~”

“Hold on! Since Lady Serena defeated the rider, the horn belongs to Lady Serena!”

“I could have caught them all by myself, you know? I deliberately held back so you could gain experience, you know?”

Olive stepped on the goblin corpse and picked up the horn from the rider’s waist.

The guide examined the horn from various angles before suddenly bringing it to her mouth.

Phyuuung-.

Unlike when the Goblin Rider blew it, it made a deflating sound. No goblins were summoned either.

Olive fiddled with the horn here and there.

“Is it broken?”

“Isn’t there a special way to blow it?”

“The goblin earlier just put it to his mouth and blew.”

When Olive tried several more times without success, she offered the horn to someone else.

The first victim was Ralph, whom Olive considered the most manageable.

“Would you like to try, Sir Knight?”

“I don’t want to indirectly kiss a goblin.”

“Ugh. That’s right, isn’t it?”

Only then did Olive seem to remember that the goblin’s mouth had touched the horn, and she dry-heaved while rinsing her mouth with water.

She was about to wash the horn with water too, but worried it might break, so she wiped it with a water-dampened cloth instead.

“I cleaned it thoroughly! You know!”

Ralph couldn’t resist the pretty lady’s request and put the horn to his lips.

Phyuuung. Again, it made a deflating sound.

Next was Count Randy’s turn.

Count Randy glared bitterly at the horn that had been through the mouths of a goblin, a strange woman, and a strange boy, then squeezed his eyes shut and blew the horn.

Phuuu.

It started strong, but.

Iyuuung.

It ended with the same deflating sound. Count Randy panted while pointing at the horn.

“This horn requires mana to blow.”

“Ah, so that’s why it made deflating sounds when the knight and I blew it. But why did you stop mid-blow, Count? You know?”

“I ran out of mana, so that was my best effort. To blow this horn completely requires considerable mana, and the only person who might be capable is.”

Count Randy’s gaze fell on the princess. The guide’s, knight’s, and archer’s gazes also turned to the princess.

‘I don’t want to blow it.’

However, combining the assault team and remaining party, Serena had the most mana.

Since Grey constantly nagged starting with “If only I had as much mana as Your Highness,” everyone else knew it too.

For the princess’s sake, Count Randy even brought out precious alcohol to disinfect the horn. The party looked at the princess with anticipation.

Serena didn’t hide her reluctant feelings as she brought the horn to her mouth and blew it vigorously.

Phuuuuung-.

A magnificent horn sound echoed just like when the Goblin Rider had blown it.

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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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