Chapter 13
Huji Labyrinth ā Floor 1 (Part 2)
“There’s a door!”
“It’s made of stone? Who makes a door out of stone?”
A large stone door stood at the end of the passage. It looked rough but was decorated with carved patterns.
Since it might simply be a stone wall shaped like a door, Hanson stepped forward and pushed it.
The moment the heavy door began to move, Serena stopped him.
“That’s enough. I think the Floor Boss is inside.”
“Lady Serena is right!” Lavenda agreed.
“I heard that Floor Bosses are usually found in special places.”
The Floor Boss of Huji Labyrinth’s first floor was probably waiting behind this door.
Serena stared at the enormous stone gate.
“Daaaaamn it.”
She couldn’t help cursing inwardly.
“I should’ve searched from the left like I always do in games. I wasted so much time!”
If she had followed her old gaming habit and explored from left to right, they would have found this door immediately.
She felt wronged.
“No, Serena. Think positively.”
“If we’d found it right away, we would’ve thought this was just the mausoleum’s burial chamber instead of a Labyrinth.”
“We would’ve walked in without preparing for a boss fight and probably gotten hurt.”
“Look on the bright side.”
Before fighting a boss, you always saved your game.
Unfortunately, this was reality.
There were no save points.
The best they could do was prepare.
“Let’s rest for a while and get ready before going in.”
“We don’t know what kind of monster is waiting for us.”
Chrome nodded.
“Then I’ll go leave the rat meat first.”
“…Actually, should we just eat?”
“If we move too much after eating,” Hanson warned, “we might throw up.”
“Hmm…”
Fighting on an empty stomach would leave them weak and unable to concentrate.
Besides, the human brain needed energy to function.
Their breakfast had already been meagre.
Skipping food entirely wasn’t a good idea.
On the other hand, Hanson wasn’t wrong either.
He told them stories about soldiers who had vomited or collapsed with side pains after running immediately after meals.
Serena reached a compromise.
“We’ll eat enough to stop being hungry.”
“But we’ll save our proper meal until after the battle.”
“Sounds good.”
“Her Highness is right!”
Since the boss room was close to the lobby, they returned there to eat and prepare.
Apparently it still wasn’t evening.
The lobby remained as bright as midday.
Chrome decided to cook rat porridge again for lunch.
The group had hunted seven Labyrinth Rats altogether.
She only cut up two of them for the pot.
The remaining rats were cleaned and packed into a bucket.
The creatures were so large that even after butchering and compressing them into the bucket, meat still stuck out over the top.
“Freeze these for me.”
Serena lowered the temperature of her ice magic far more than when she made drinking water.
Chrome covered the bucket of frozen rat meat with a blanket.
“Chrome’s doing all the work again.”
Just like yesterday, Chrome handled everything herself.
Her hands moved so quickly that she finished several tasks at once.
It was impressive to watch.
At the same time…
It made everyone else uncomfortable just sitting there.
Philia didn’t seem to notice.
Lavenda and Hanson apparently felt the same guilt as Serena and tried to help.
Chrome immediately chased them away.
“You’re just getting in my way!”
“Helping means staying out of the way, understand?”
Smack!
Because Hanson was so big, Chrome found him especially troublesome.
She smacked him across the back.
He rubbed the sore spot with a pitiful expression.
“Miss Chrome!”
“That’s a medicinal herb for external use!”
“You can’t eat that!”
“Then separate the inedible ones before I start cooking.”
When Chrome began chopping the plants she’d gathered for the porridge, Lavenda hurried over.
Since it was useful advice, she escaped without getting smacked like Hanson had.
“Here.”
Today’s rat porridge contained vegetables.
It looked far better than yesterday’s.
It even smelled delicious.
“That’s the last of our oats and barley.”
“If we had enough salt or firewood, I’d smoke the meat or make jerky…”
“But we’re short on both.”
Unless someone was a Labyrinth explorer or an expedition traveller, nobody carried huge amounts of food.
With five people to feed, the supplies Chrome had packed into her cart had disappeared after only three meals.
“We’ll be out of here soon.”
“We’d better.”
Once again, Chrome served Serena’s bowl first.
Everyone chewed slowly to avoid upsetting their stomachs.
Moving immediately after eating was foolish.
The group stretched and loosened their muscles.
“My toes hurt…”
“No.”
“Everything hurts.”
Once Serena relaxed, she finally noticed the pain she’d ignored through sheer tension.
She removed her shoes.
“I knew this would happen.”
The princess’s feet were covered in blood and fluid.
The blisters on her heels had burst.
The skin had peeled away.
One of her big toenails had cracked and dug into the flesh, leaving blood running down her foot.
Even the foot without the broken nail had burst blisters everywhere.
“I shouldn’t have danced.”
Who would have guessed that dancing until her feet blistered would lead not to a luxurious potion foot bath…
But to exploring a deadly Labyrinth?
“These wounds can’t get infected.”
“Maybe one of those herbs will help.”
She decided to wash her feet at the fountain and ask Lavenda.
Just thenā
The silver fairy flew over.
“Lady Serena!”
“Your feet are covered in blood!”
Philia rushed over like lightning, grabbed Serena’s feet, and looked ready to cry.
“Oh no!”
“Your toenail is broken!”
“What do we do?”
“Your skin is peeling too…”
“That’s right!”
“We found a potion earlier!”
“Use it!”
“We need to save the potion for emergencies.”
“Instead, take off your shoes too.”
“I doubt your feet are in any better condition.”
“We’ll use crushed herbs.”
“Lavenda, if you have anything suitable, please bring it.”
“Yes!”
“This herb should work.”
“I’ll crush it now.”
Lavenda ground the herbs into a paste and spread them over Serena’s and Philia’s wounds.
Bandages would have helped.
Unfortunately, they had none.
They only possessed three handkerchiefs.
There weren’t enough to tear into strips.
“Normally this is where the heroine tears her skirt into bandages…”
Serena glanced at her own dress…
Then at Philia’s.
The silk was soft and smooth.
Unfortunately, it was embroidered with gold and silver thread and decorated with jewels.
It was far too expensive to rip apart.
“Please use my handkerchief.”
Lavenda started tearing hers.
Serena stopped her.
Instead, Hanson offered his own.
“Use mine.”
It was a clean white cotton cloth.
Perfect for making bandages.
As Serena accepted it, a sweet scent drifted from the fabric.
It smelled slightly milky…
Warm…
Sweet…
The same scent she’d smelled after her little sibling was born in this life.
“A baby’s smell?”
“My nephew…”
“He’s still nursing.”
“He isn’t even one hundred days old yet.”
“He’ll celebrate his hundredth day next week.”
Just mentioning his nephew made Hanson grin from ear to ear.
Serena smiled as well.
She pictured the tiny baby wrapped tightly in blankets.
Then she remembered the earthquake.
The smile vanished.
“Are Hanson’s nephews alright?”
The massive earthquake before they fell into the Labyrinth…
She prayed it had only struck the area where she had been.
But that was wishful thinking.
If the capital had truly been hit…
Would infants like Hanson’s nephew have survived?
“There’s no point worrying.”
“I can’t leave yet.”
“I’ll think about it after we escape.”
She forced all thoughts of the outside world from her mind.
The only thing that mattered now…
Was escaping the Labyrinth.
She wrapped her injured feet with the baby-scented handkerchief.
Then she tied back her greasy, sweat-soaked hair.
“I’m opening it.”
Hanson pushed against the heavy stone door.
It slowly swung open with a deep rumble.
“Haaah!”
Once the doorway was fully open, Hanson accepted his spear from Serena and took his stance.
Then…
The group finally came face to face with the creature waiting inside.
It was another Labyrinth Rat.
Only…
This one was enormous.
“Wow…”
“It’s really huge.”
The ordinary Labyrinth Rats they’d fought so far had been about the size of a Maltese or a small poodle.
The Floor Boss waiting inside was as large as aĀ Jindo dog.
Its eyes radiated killing intent.
Its enormous front teeth looked sharp enough to tear through human arteries in a single bite.
Its coarse fur appeared thick enough to shrug off weak attacks.
Screeeech.
As the group cautiously stepped inside…
The Leader Labyrinth Rat slowly stood up.
Standing made it seem even larger.
Yet instead of fear…
The group felt relieved.
“There’s only one!”
“No matter how big it is…”
“It’s still just a rat.”
Five against one.
Holding the advantage in numbers, Hanson and Chrome carefully approached.
“In Vieta, a kid killed one with nothing but a dagger.”
“We can do this.”
“Yes!”
The giant rat actually stepped backward, maintaining its distance.
Watching from behind, Serena noticed something strange.
“Something’s different.”
There was a wound along its side.
She hadn’t seen it from the front.
“It couldn’t have eaten itself from hunger…”
“That wound looks old…”
“Die!”
Hanson thrust his spear with all his strength.
The giant rat simply stood there.
The spear pierced straight into its abdomen.
“I got it!”
“Keep stabbing!”
Serena moved sideways to get a better look at the wound.
Then she shouted,
“Be careful!”
“I am!”
“It’s undead!”
“It’s not alive!”
Hanson pulled his spear free.
If it had been alive…
Blood and organs should have poured out.
Instead…
Thick, black, rotten blood slowly oozed from the wound.
“Undead?”
SKREEEEEEEE!!
The giant rat let out a deafening scream.
It sounded almost as if it were congratulating Serena for guessing correctly.
At that very momentā
BOOM!
The stone door behind them slammed shut.
It closed much faster than Hanson had managed to open it.
“The door!”
That wasn’t all.
From the empty corners of the chamber…
Rats began appearing.
They were only the size of ordinary sewer rats.
But every single one of them…
Was undead.
Squeak! Squeak! Squeeeak!
They didn’t crawl out of holes.
They simply appeared out of nowhere.
One…
Then two…
Then dozens.
While Serena stood frozen in shock…
Their numbers continued increasing.
“AAAAAH!”
“There aren’t even any rat holes!”
“They’re just appearing!”
A Labyrinth.
A mysterious place beyond common sense.
Anything could happen.
And nothing should surprise you.
A place where impossible things occurred beyond human imagination.
Lavenda’s earlier explanation flashed through Serena’s mind.
“Come on…”
“There was never anything about the boss summoning minions!”
Was this what they meant by mystery?
Creating monsters out of absolutely nothing?
“Did I seriously reincarnate into a game?”
“Was this really just reincarnation?”
For the first time since arriving in this world…
For the first time since recovering from her “main character syndrome”…
Serena shouted the forbidden words.
“Status Window!”
“Where are you?!”
“Status Window!”
“I want a damn Status Window!”
“System!”
“Status!”
“Character Sheet!”
“Settings!”
“Level Up!”
“Skill Tree!”
“Stop!”
“Pause!”
“I only play turn-based RPGs!”
“Where are the turns?!”
“My turn!”
“It’s my turn!”
“Ore no turn!”
“Log in!”
“Log out!”
“Shut down!”
“I’m going to Mars if this keeps up!”
She shouted every game term she could think of.
Nothing happened.
No blue window appeared.
No transparent screen.
Nothing.
The only thing before her eyes…
Was a boss monster summoning endless undead minions.
While the party stood in confusion…
The growing swarm of undead Labyrinth Rats charged toward them.
