Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 89

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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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89. I Shouldn’t Have Done Such a Thing

Kieek.

A goblin was summoned in front of Serena.

It wasn’t a special unit like a warrior or shaman, but an ordinary goblin.

“Wow, a real goblin was summoned?”

“As expected of the Princess! Amazing!”

“Hmm, since Serena summoned it, it should obey commands. Try testing it.”

Despite seeing humans, the summoned goblin showed no hostility and just stood there blankly.

Serena gave a simple command.

“Sit.”

The goblin that had been standing blankly immediately sat on the floor. Those around were amazed that it even followed orders.

“Stand up. Sit. Stand up. Lie down. Roll right, roll left. Get up. Roll back, roll forward.”

The goblin followed Serena’s commands without resistance or hesitation. It even followed commands she only thought without speaking.

“Could you give me the horn for a moment?”

Serena handed the goblin summoning horn to Count Randy. Count Randy commanded the goblin. The goblin didn’t obey.

With Count Randy holding the horn, Serena gave a command.

“Sit.”

The goblin sat on the floor.

Count Randy nodded repeatedly and returned the horn to Serena.

“It only listens to the summoner’s commands. This seems useful.”

“Not really. Half my mana is gone.”

With the mana consumed to summon the goblin, she could have faced three goblin parties.

Maybe if it were a special unit like a Goblin Rider or shaman.

Serena didn’t want to use so much mana to summon an ordinary goblin.

“No, no, Princess.”

Olive interjected to the negative Serena.

“Try ordering it to commit suicide.”

“Hmm…”

Even though it was a monster, being in a position to give one-sided commands, she felt reluctant to give orders like self-harm or suicide.

Whether trying to persuade Serena or comfort her, the Guide said there was no need to worry.

“Monsters in the labyrinth are different from monsters outside. These don’t even reproduce unless they’re set up for that layer, and eating and defecating are all just for show. They’re beings created just to kill adventurers and to die.”

‘That’s true.’

Monsters within the labyrinth weren’t truly living creatures. They were no different from monsters in games.

‘Though they don’t give experience points.’

With a calmed mind, Serena commanded the goblin.

“Kill yourself.”

The goblin immediately stabbed its own throat with the dagger it was holding.

Blood poured from the goblin’s throat, then both the blood and the goblin’s corpse disappeared.

Olive seemed satisfied with the experiment results and snapped her fingers.

“It dies when told to die. Very useful. We can use it as a labyrinth dog.”

“Labyrinth dog?”

“Are you going to raise it like a dog?”

“Huh? Well…”

Olive suddenly acted evasive and exchanged glances with Ying.

Instead of the Labyrinth Explorers who had suddenly fallen into their own world, Count Randy explained.

“I’ve heard that Labyrinth Explorers train dogs to find traps or take the place of people.”

“Yes! That! That’s a labyrinth dog!”

“The dogs are pitiful…”

The Knight, with rich imagination and empathy, became dejected as if picturing dogs dying in traps.

Serena agreed but decided to show that she valued human life more as the party’s leader.

“It’s better than people dying… can’t be helped.”

“People~”

Olive spoke in a tone that strangely irritated Serena, then spun around.

‘Is Olive on the dogs’ side rather than people’s too.’

Dogs dying was a sad thing. Serena didn’t point out Olive’s tone and generously let it pass.

“Anyway! This horn will be expensive!”

“How much do you expect?”

“Well? Magical tools from the labyrinth vary greatly in price depending on whether they’re useful outside the labyrinth or not, whether they can be used or not.”

For example, suppose there’s a bottle that produces infinite water.

It’s a very useful magical tool for Labyrinth Explorers, but outside the labyrinth, it’s treated as a somewhat curious but not worth paying big money for magical tool.

The truthful magic map that Serena’s group currently has also belongs to this type.

The magic map belongs to the labyrinth where it was rewarded, so it becomes ordinary paper in other labyrinths or outside the labyrinth.

Another example. There’s a magical tool called the Substitute Scarecrow. This is a magical tool that takes the place of the owner’s death once.

“This one costs whatever you ask for it. It works outside the labyrinth too. But there’s a magical tool with the same ability called the Substitute Paper Doll. This is expensive too, but it only works inside the labyrinth. So the price difference between the two is enormous.”

So the horn’s price couldn’t be estimated until they left the labyrinth.

Olive rubbed her fingers together and grinned.

“Since no one but the Princess can use it right now, I’ll leave it to the Princess for now. But that’s mine, dibs dibs dibs. You said the Princess didn’t need it unless it was necessary for escape.”

“I’ll share it fairly with the others, so stop with the dibs. You’re spitting.”

Though it required a lot of mana, as Olive said, it seemed usable for identifying traps or as a vanguard.

Serena attached the horn to her waist cord.

***

While the group searched through the goblin party for equipment and magic stones, Serena moved to the location Olive had indicated and unsealed the Sealed Door.

Surprisingly, this time Olive found the Sealed Door faster than Serena.

‘The faint light should be visible because it’s dazzling.’

Just because it glowed with luminescence didn’t mean it could always be found.

Thinking that she was learning many lessons particularly on this layer, Serena opened the teleportation magic circle.

“If we open that door, there should be stairs and a treasure chest. Should we search here too?”

Olive lit the magic lantern and swept through the interior of the teleportation room. A faint expectation appeared and disappeared on the Guide’s small, round face.

“Tch.”

Olive left the teleportation room with a deflated expression.

Since there was nothing to lose by searching thoroughly, they looked around the Leader’s Chamber but found nothing.

“Ugh, so deflating.”

The Guide, disappointed twice in a row, staggered conspicuously and opened the door leading to the stairs.

Upon discovering the rare treasure chest behind the door, Olive’s energy rapidly recharged.

“It’s a good chest! As expected, labyrinths start from the 10th floor!”

This time the Guide didn’t yield to others and opened the treasure chest herself.

The others’ eyes lit up with anticipation of what would come from the rare treasure chest.

“Ooh.”

What came from the rare treasure chest was a longsword. The ornate decoration of the scabbard made it look extraordinary from its appearance.

Olive drew the sword from its scabbard. Even from a distance, the sword’s sharpness could be felt.

The Guide test-swung the rewarded sword. Though she mainly used daggers, her sword-swinging movements were also disciplined and not bad.

“This looks like a magic sword? Count!”

Olive trusted her own eye, but for accurate appraisal, she needed an intellectual.

The Alchemist took the sword and examined it carefully.

“A, a magic sword?”

They defeated monsters in the labyrinth and opened a treasure chest, and a magic sword came out.

Ralph was overjoyed as if he might faint.

“Let me see…”

Count Randy carefully examined the magical letters carved on the blade and hilt, then nodded.

“It’s definitely a magic sword. The attribute is light. It should work even against monsters with strong physical defense.”

“Ooh.”

“A real magic sword!”

Since a good item had appeared, it was obvious that Olive would shout ‘Dibs on this!’, but Ralph was simply delighted.

He seemed happy just from the fact that a magic sword had come out of the treasure chest.

“Then this belongs to Knight. Everyone else agrees, right?”

So when Olive held out the magic sword to Ralph, not only Serena but even Ralph himself, who was receiving it, doubted his ears.

“Are you lending it to me?”

I’m giving it to Knight. Knight would use it better than me.”

“So you’re lending it to me until we leave the labyrinth.”

“Ah, why are you like this!”

Olive clicked her tongue and handed the magic sword to Ralph.

“The Labyrinth God must have recognized Knight’s hard work on this layer. It came out perfectly suited for Knight.”

“May I really accept this?”

“Be grateful and work even harder from now on-.”

Olive was lifting her chin proudly when Ying cut her off.

“Take it. When equipment comes out in the labyrinth, it’s the rule among labyrinth explorers that whoever has the job that uses that equipment gets it.”

“Zero! What are you doing telling him that! Now I can’t show off in the future!”

“Don’t show off.”

“I want to! I’m going to!”

“The Labyrinth God was watching over my efforts…”

The freckled young boy’s face filled with joy.

Ralph received the magic sword with both trembling hands, then drew the blade.

The boy’s face, which had been beaming like a child receiving a large sum for New Year’s money, instantly transformed into the serious face of a knight.

Ralph’s sword cut through the air. White light followed the sword’s trajectory.

It was too bright to see clearly now, but it seemed like it would shine as bright as a meteor under the labyrinth’s darkness.

“I will become a knight worthy of this sword!”

Ralph shouted to Serena with sparkling eyes.

Sensing his intention for this to be conveyed to the Labyrinth God, Serena nodded with a gentle princess smile.

With this, Ralph now had two swords.

‘He won’t use both at the same time. Dual wielding is no good. It’s a symbol of the weak. Let’s throw away Lucas’s sword.’

Even with the magic sword equipped, there was no change in the yellow star above Ralph’s head.

How could that gray star be changed to a yellow one? When would the 3-star knight grow to 4-star?

‘When will Olive and Ying’s empty stars be filled?’

Ralph could be excused for lacking experience and skill, but when would Olive and Ying become true 5-stars?

Though she hadn’t felt the party’s lack of strength yet, after passing the 10th floor, the monsters’ strength and composition had definitely changed.

‘The shop isn’t urgent yet. Should I recruit someone?’

Should she experiment by recruiting someone on this floor to see what happens?

Serena’s heart wavered for a moment, but she steeled herself.

‘No, no. Remember Lavenda. Let’s not do strange experiments on this layer and hurry back.’

To the princess who had made this resolution, the guide whispered.

“Princess, shall we go down the stairs a bit and just get a taste of the 5th layer? Please?”

“I’m in favor!”

“I’ll follow Serena’s opinion.”

“…”

It took one day to come down to the 14th floor, at least two more days to generate the stairs, and Olive’s experiments had added another day and a half.

‘About 5 days must have passed in the lobby.’

“Princess! What do you think was the reason the Labyrinth God told us how to conquer this layer! Hurry through this floor and quickly go to the next layer! Wasn’t that the meaning? Right?”

“I think Olive is right!”

“Calm down. Serena’s opinion is important.”

Serena pressed her forehead.

‘Quickly go to the next layer, my foot. Everyone died and couldn’t go.’

Only the princess knew the truth, but she couldn’t speak the facts.

“This layer was really good! We need to keep this momentum going! If we stop for no reason, we’ll get bad luck! Let’s just step on the stairs and pass this flow to the next floor! Right?”

“That sounds like a good idea!”

The labyrinth industry was rife with superstition.

She could understand the guide’s desire to connect this current ‘good flow’ to the next exploration, especially since guides were sensitive to danger.

With the guide earnestly persuading and Ralph agreeing beside him, Serena’s heart wavered.

‘Should we just go see the atmosphere of the lower floor?’

What kind of environment was the lower floor? Just knowing that would allow them to prepare many things in advance.

“Then we’ll just look around the stairs area and come back.”

“Of course! Right!”

“Understood!”

Serena and her party descended the stairs leading to the 16th floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth.

As they went down the stairs, the light that had been tormenting their eyes weakened and became closer to ordinary light.

“I can see it, I see it!”

The guide, who always walked a few steps ahead of the party, scouted the 16th floor first and informed the party.

“The floor is grass. It’s been a while since we’ll step on grass, right?”

The guide who said this disappeared in front of the party as soon as he stepped on the grass.

Did he go into stealth like when catching goblins? That thought was brief.

In the blink of an eye, Serena found herself stepping on grass instead of stairs.

Looking around, all she could see were walls made of vines, shrubs, and trees, and grass that smelled freshly cut.

She couldn’t find anyone else, this was a labyrinth, and Serena was alone. Serena screamed a soundless scream.

Kyaaaaa!

‘I shouldn’t have done that!’

She shouldn’t have done such a thing, but the princess didn’t know that fact.

‘I should have saved!’

What good was regret now? The princess was alone, and if she died, she’d have to conquer the 4th layer again.

To make matters worse.

Rustle.

‘What’s that?’

Serena, who had been despairing, heard the sound of something moving.

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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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