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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Hwaji's Labyrinth 1st Floor (3)
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The undead labyrinth rat legion swarmed toward Serena's party.
Dozens of rats gathered together were already disgusting and repulsive, but layering undead attributes on top amplified the effect tremendously.
Eeek!
The party's mental strength plummeted vertically. Serena's had dropped like the coin prices after she'd impulsively blown her emergency funds out of curiosity.
"Get away, shoo!"
Everyone was frantically shaking off the undead labyrinth rats that were biting their bodies or climbing up them.
But all they managed was jumping in place or flailing their limbs like balloon dolls.
While the group wasted time like that, the labyrinth rat horde steadily gnawed at exposed body parts like fingers or faces.
Squeeeeek!
The leader undead labyrinth rat, who had been silently watching his minions ravage Serena's party, let out another massive screech.
Serena snapped out of her panic at the sound. Until then, she'd been crying and shaking off rats biting her fingers just like everyone else.
Regaining her senses, Serena saw more rats being summoned into the empty square. New recruits had joined the undead labyrinth rat legion.
Serena swatted away the rat climbing up her face and biting her nose, then stomped repeatedly on the ones getting underfoot no matter how she moved.
"Everyone, snap out of it! We have to take down the leader first!"
"Got it!"
"Yes!"
"Eek!"
Hanson and Lavenda came to their senses at Serena's shout. Chrome attacked only the rats around her without responding, still seeming dazed.
"Chrome! You too, snap out of it! We have to take down the leader first!"
"Got it!"
Chrome ripped off the rat hanging from her ear and snapped its neck. Even with its neck broken, the undead labyrinth rat flailed its limbs and bared its sharp teeth.
"It won't die even with a broken neck!"
Lavenda cried out in horror at the sight.
"For undead, you have to immobilize them or attack the sorcerer!"
"In our village, we herded 'em into pits and burned 'em!"
There are all sorts of zombies in the world: walking zombies, running zombies, enhanced zombies, zombies that even outdo humans in romance, parasitic zombies, drug-induced zombies, zombies from bad gravesites, zombies awakened by hellgates opening, and so on.
The fiction from her past life had truly diverse zombies with varied countermeasures, but people preferred one consistent commonality.
Blowing off their heads neutralized them.
Unfortunately, in this world, undead weren't neutralized even by decapitation. They all moved by mysterious powers.
Instead, they had a weakness: take down the sorcerer, and they all collapsed.
"Ugh, get off!"
Hanson swung his spear desperately and kicked rats away, but he couldn't overcome the horde's numerical superiority.
"Waaah, Lady Serena!"
Rats burrowed into Philia's glossy hair like it was in a hair essence ad. Philia writhed as if nothing could be more horrifying.
Serena peeled off the rats and stomped her heel repeatedly, pulverizing their bones into fragments.
"This place is too dangerous. Let's get out of here."
Philia grabbed Serena and headed for the door. Serena desperately wanted to flee too, but industry common sense dictated that doors that closed automatically on ordinary people were locked.
Easy to enter, not so much to leave.
"Hng. The door won't budge. Here, I'll protect you!"
Philia pulled Serena into her embrace to shield her. It was touching, but Serena figured if she was going to get bitten anyway, better to crush at least one rat underfoot.
"Let go! I can't see!"
"Waaah, it's so scary! Save me!"
When Serena pushed her away, Philia clung tighter and screamed. Her vision was blocked, and her ears hurt too.
"You snap out of it too!"
A bit dim and oblivious, but pretty and loyal handmaiden. Even lost in a labyrinth, she prioritized her lady's safety over her own, so Serena couldn't stay mad.
"Philia! Instead of wrapping your slender body around me, catch rats—that's how you help me. Got it?"
"Yes!"
"Catch even one and break its leg bones to immobilize it. Or smash it flat."
"Got it! I'll do my best!"
Philia nodded with a determined face. Scratches covered her, her hair disheveled, but she was still beautiful.
While Serena and Philia tap-danced on rats by the door, Hanson, Chrome, and Lavenda struggled to reach the leader rat.
It wasn't easy. The rat swarm surged toward whoever got closest to the leader. If someone else tried to approach in the meantime, the leader didn't sit idle—it dodged or attacked.
"Getting bitten is dangerous!"
Anyone bitten by the leader rat's teeth would have the bitten part sliced clean off like with garden shears. No one had been bitten yet, but everyone anticipated the same.
"Thrust that spear properly! What're you saving it for? To make rat stew?"
This was exactly when they needed precise spear thrusts at the leader, but Hanson's spearwork lacked bite.
"Kyaaah, Lady Serena!"
Hanson looked troubled at the scream from behind. He seemed to steel himself and extended a hand to Chrome.
"Give me your sword."
"A guy who can't spear worth beans wants a sword?"
"I'm better with swords."
There are sayings like a hundred days for spears, a thousand for staffs, ten thousand for swords. That's the mastery time per weapon. Spears take a mere hundred days; swords, ten thousand.
Swords are the symbol of weapons, but soldiers carry spears for a reason—they're easier to learn and advantageous in battle.
Ditch the spear for a sword? The one that supposedly takes ten thousand days?
Chrome panicked at words defying even an uneducated merchant's common sense.
"It's a wooden sword to begin with?"
Should she indulge this kid's empty bravado? While Chrome hesitated, Hanson snatched it. She ended up with the spear.
"I've never thrust a spear before!"
Hanson gripped the wooden sword, swung it to bash rats, then braced his lower body.
"Swords are my preference after all!"
With that, Hanson lunged forward. Rats swarmed him, but he didn't stop. He planned to charge the leader rat festooned with the horde clinging to him.
It was a valiant display unlike his usual demeanor. Chrome was impressed.
"If you're gonna go that crazy, why not charge with the spear?"
"Confidence issue, probably?"
To barrel through while taking hits, confidence had to steel the heart. He trusted swords more than spears, so he needed one.
Hanson moved nimbly despite the undead rat legion draped over him. The leader rat dodged the wooden sword aimed at its head sideways. That was Hanson's feint.
The downward slash naturally shifted horizontal, striking the leader's cheek. If it were a real sword, it'd have carved a deep gash.
Hanson's assault didn't end there. He withdrew the wooden sword and thrust deep into the leader's maw. The tip pierced its throat and emerged from the back.
A living creature would've died instantly, but they faced undead. The leader snapped its jaws to shear the wooden sword.
Hanson yanked it out faster and bashed the head. Black, viscous blood splattered amid the clamor of shattering bone.
The leader rat's eyeball popped out and flew through the air. Serena, who had dazedly tracked the cloudy orb's trajectory in awe of Hanson's exploits, belatedly snapped to.
"Not the time to gawk!"
Serena charged in herself, stomping rats around the leader and kicking it. The others jolted awake and attacked with their weapons.
Lavenda hammered with all her might to shatter bones; Chrome thrust busily with the spear, severing ragged bits from the body.
The rat tail, twitching even after its head was flattened, shivered and finally dropped limp.
At last, the party felled the leader undead labyrinth rat.
With the leader's second death, the remaining undead labyrinth rat legion vanished.
They disappeared completely without corpses, making it seem like an illusion—but the wounds all over the party's bodies proved their reality.
"The rats are gone! We won!"
"The door's open too! Look, Lady Serena!"
"It's dead for real, right? Right?"
The battle ended. The party, drenched in sweat from the hard fight, rejoiced—Hanson clenched his fists and cheered.
Yaaah!
No one scolded him for the sudden outburst. He'd earned the most merit this fight. Hanson deserved to celebrate.
"Didn't know you could fight that well! Why waste time with the spear?"
"Guard, that was amazing!"
"Once we're out, I'll summon Hwajichen's finest blacksmith to forge you a proper sword!"
"Hanson, your contribution was huge. You fought brilliantly."
Not entirely trustworthy, but their sole combat specialist—praise poured on Hanson, whom they'd had to rely on.
Hanson grinned, baring his teeth, then fidgeted with his fingers.
"Actually... I have a confession to make to everyone."
"Confession?"
"I'm not actually with the Capital Guard."
"Then Kizen Guard?"
Serena asked if he was from the origin he'd first mentioned. She hadn't suspected impersonation.
Impersonating a guard? Death penalty. Hierarchical societies are harsh on public authority pretenders.
'Maybe the Capital Guard was short-staffed and pulled in nearby forces.'
She charitably assumed, but Hanson shook his head.
"Not a guard either."
"What?"
"He's not a guard?"
"Isn't guard impersonation a capital offense, Lady Serena?"
"It's not like that! No bad intentions! My brother's in the Capital Guard!"
"Taking over because your brother's overworked?"
During the Founding Festival, Hwajichen's guards had pulled all-nighters without shifts in grueling duty, or so the rumors went. Had his brother begged the brother to sub in?
"Actually..."
Thus, the truth from Hanson's lips.
Double Hanson was actually his brother's name. Serena inwardly mourned that Hanson Hanson was a real name.
The impersonator's true name: Ralph Hanson.
Ralph's brother, Double Hanson, had worked Capital Guard in Hwajichen, met his soulmate, married, and started a family.
"You mentioned a 100-day-old nephew."
"Yes. Super cute. But."
Melancholy tinged Ralph's eyes.
"They're quadruplets."
"Oh no."
Groans escaped everyone. Quadruplets? That explained it.
Fortunately, Ralph's sister-in-law birthed the healthy quadruplets and recovered well herself. But raising quadruplets is total war, all-out battle.
Pregnant with quadruplets, her condition wasn't normal despite health. Doctors urged extended rest.
Ralph's parents helped, of course; in-laws came from her side too. Ralph? Conscripted into childcare war, naturally.
With grandparents and uncle's aid, the quadruplet war proceeded smoothly enough.
However.
"Mom sprained her back holding a nephew."
Storm clouds gathered over the Hanson household.
"The in-laws are older than Mom and overdid it—wrist ligaments stretched."
The kids grew, but workers dropped from two to zero suddenly.
"Luckily, royal and lordly gifts let us hire help, but they commute, right? Without them, family pitched in. Nephews are cute but exhausting. Tougher than squire training."
"Squire?"
"Training as squire under Sir Haro in Kizen domain. Took leave for nephews, but this isn't vacation... Honestly, I wanted back to castle training."
'He was knight training. No wonder with the sword.'
Quadruplet childcare tougher than brutal squire duties. Grueling, filthy hard—but nephews' smiles erased fatigue. Ralph toiled at childcare and chores thus.
"Then bro says guarding's killing him with busyness, better minding kids—in front of sis-in-law!"
"Scumbag."
Serena wanted to say.
