Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 102

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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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102. Dryad (5)

With the prince held hostage, they couldn’t rashly attack the Dryad.

“Then what should we do? We need to quickly catch the strong enemy for the Princess.”

“Whether he goes crazy or not, let’s knock him out and capture it. If the Prince has any conscience, he’ll understand.”

“Ugh.”

Between the Prince’s mental health and Princess Serena’s life, they naturally had to choose the latter.

Olive didn’t wait for Count Randy’s words and moved stealthily to knock out the Prince.

But suddenly, the Dryad who had been smiling seductively under the roots screamed.

“Ahhh!”

“Huh, what just happened?”

The Prince, who had been enchanted by the Dryad, came to his senses.

“Yes!”

Olive immediately knocked out Prince Willow who had regained his sanity.

Count Randy figured out what had happened with his sharp mind.

“Lady Serena must have killed the Dryad’s clone!”

“As expected of our Princess! She’s so capable! Can’t even compare to these useless humans!”

“Sorry for being useless! Hyaaaah!”

“Don’t come, don’t come! Help me! Save me!”

Ralph ran toward the Dryad with his hammer.

The Dryad tried to seduce the Knight while shedding tears, but the Knight was moved by his lord’s performance and wasn’t fooled by the fake tears.

Thud!

“Ahhhhh!”

Though it was a small hammer, when Ralph put all his strength into striking the base, half of the base was deeply dented.

The Dryad screamed and writhed in agony.

Shaaaah!

Suddenly it changed and attacked Ralph with an evil expression. Tree trunks and roots rushed toward Ralph.

Ying shot arrows to knock down the tree trunks that could deal fatal damage.

Ralph also switched his weapon from hammer to sword and cut the roots trying to strangle him.

The magic sword performed well, dealing additional light attribute damage to the Dryad.

“Hyaaaah!”

The magic sword penetrated the tree base more smoothly than the hammer.

Encouraged by the Dryad’s screams, Ralph perfectly cut down the tree.

“Don’t rest! Strike the stump with your sword too!”

Ralph acted according to the Guide’s advice. When he struck the stump with his sword, a tearing scream flowed from the tree he thought was dead.

Count Randy poured oil on the cut tree and set it on fire.

Ralph struck the stump with his sword and split the surrounding roots until the screaming subsided.

“That should be enough.”

“Huff huff. Really?”

“Yeah. It’s dead.”

After cross-verification and confirmation, Ralph’s face brightened as he had been beating the tree so hard he was drenched in sweat.

Ralph and the party safely defeated the Dryad, the strong enemy of Heuji’s Labyrinth 5th floor.

“This isn’t the time for this. Even though the monsters are freed from the Dryad’s control, they might attack the Princess since she’s nearby, so we need to go help her.”

The Guide threw cold water on the celebrating Ralph.

“Zero and I will go to the Princess, so Count and Knight, search around to see if anyone’s buried. Oh. And watch the Prince too.”

The Guide muttered to herself as she left.

“I hit him a bit hard.”

True to her confession of personal feelings, Prince Willow had a lump on his head.

It seemed she had hit his head once while striking his neck to knock him out.

“It would be better to say this happened when he fell and hit the ground.”

“Understood.”

What could they gain by worsening the relationship between the party’s capable Guide and the Prince? Obviously nothing.

Ralph was slightly dissatisfied with Count Randy’s realistic and political words but had no choice but to agree.

“Even though Miss Olive pretends otherwise, she reveres and follows the Princess, so she must be angry that we made mistakes and were delayed in catching the Dryad because of the Prince.”

“Reverence. It’s certainly true that Olive respects Lady Serena.”

‘Though it seems more complicated than that.’

From Count Randy’s perspective, Olive wanted something from Serena.

He could sometimes feel her making calculations with her small head whenever she looked at Serena.

Even this time was like that. The Guide was genuinely worried about the Princess’s life, but it wasn’t for the Princess’s sake. Serena probably sensed it too.

But not everyone could enjoy only truthful human relationships, and calculating relationships could sometimes benefit one’s life.

Whatever the reason, wasn’t it true that Olive was trying to protect Serena?

‘The rescue team should come quickly.’

His wife and the Princess, Grey and the Prince. All the people precious and important to Count Randy had gathered, so how wonderful it would be if the rescue team came quickly so they could leave the labyrinth.

Count Randy was also having such self-interested thoughts. He wasn’t in a position to be wary of Olive.

The Empire’s Count applied potion to the Empire Prince’s lump.

“I’ll search for people around the roots.”

The adolescent who hadn’t yet been corrupted showed off his innocence as he dug in the dirt with tree branches.

Count Randy admired the Young Knight who hadn’t been tainted by adult corruption.

‘Is this what youth is?’

If Serena had seen this, she would have snapped that a guy not even thirty was talking nonsense.

***

“Why is this taking so long!”

She had volunteered as bait thinking it would end instantly with Count Randy’s potion attack, but no matter how much she ran away, the notification that they had caught the strong enemy didn’t appear.

Serena clung to the chicken’s neck and was shaken mercilessly. She gritted her teeth and resolved inwardly to avoid biting her tongue.

‘Next time, let’s just die.’

Was there a need to conquer the labyrinth this difficultly? If she died, she could know the conquest information and conquer it easily, so why suffer unnecessarily?

‘I tried to survive if possible! But this isn’t right!’

She felt like she had used death too carelessly when saving her sibling, so she tried to endure as much as possible.

But once she chose to suffer, she realized.

It was insane for someone who loved playing and eating to choose hardship.

‘I was crazy. I was high on reincarnator and regressor power.’

Serena had overestimated herself too much.

So what if she reincarnated, regressed, and was good at magic? Serena’s essence was ultimately an unemployed bum.

The escape sustained by the Labyrinth Chicken’s survival instincts and Serena’s situational judgment was precarious beyond measure. If the labyrinth’s monsters hadn’t been stupid, she would have been caught long ago.

Serena had nosebleeds several times while clinging to the running Labyrinth Chicken and casting magic.

‘This isn’t right! I’ll never do this again!’

If the magic staff hadn’t enhanced her concentration and assisted with mana operation, she might have died not from nosebleeds but from mana backflow or magic failure recoil.

“I’ll have revenge! Kiiiiih!”

In the midst of this, even the Dryad came out with Brush Wolves and blocked the escape route.

Serena shoved her most confident ice arrow into the Dryad’s mouth.

Then the monsters that had been closing the encirclement suddenly stopped.

The Brush Wolf that was about to bite the Labyrinth Chicken’s neck and knock it down spun around in place like a dog that needed to poop.

‘What? It’s not the main body but a clone?’

It seemed the timing of Serena catching the clone and the main body falling was similar.

Serena quickly closed her right eye and opened her left eye.

[You have defeated the 5th floor strong enemy. The probability of getting a dud from the limited shop roulette decreases.]

Her companions had defeated the Dryad.

Serena sighed in relief and escaped from the confused monster army.

The labyrinth bees returned to their respective homes instead of chasing the princess, and several nearby brush wolves thrust their maws at the labyrinth chicken’s tail feathers.

The labyrinth chicken whose tail feathers were plucked struggled frantically while crowing.

“Argh!”

Her arms, which had reached their limit long ago, lost their strength. Serena fell straight down from the chicken.

The soft grass cushioned the princess’s body, but the problem wasn’t the fall.

Grrrowl.

Attack if there are enemies nearby. The simple-minded brush wolves of the labyrinth bared their rose thorn-like teeth upon seeing prey that could no longer escape.

Serena tried to get up quickly, but the brush wolves were faster.

One brush wolf pounced on the princess. Serena barely managed to block the brush wolf’s snout with her magic staff.

The brush wolf lunged as if it would bite through the metal rod stuck between its jaws along with Serena.

There wasn’t even just one brush wolf. Serena gritted her teeth seeing the shadows of brush wolves gathering around her.

‘I should have just died peacefully!’

Going through the 4th layer again would have been 100 times easier than grabbing a chicken’s neck and running away.

How many times was she going to regret not saving on the 13th floor!

A sound of cutting through air reached the regret-filled princess’s ears, and the weight of the brush wolf pressing down from above disappeared.

Kyaaang!

The brush wolf with an arrow piercing its snout retreated while scratching at its snout with its front paws.

“Oh my, that was almost a disaster.”

Olive pierced through one brush wolf’s neck with her dagger. She had suddenly appeared without Serena sensing any presence at all.

Grrrowl.

If it had been an ordinary wolf, that single strike would have cut off its breath.

But brush wolves didn’t die even when their necks were cut because their entire bodies were made of plants.

“How annoying.”

Olive put away her dagger and picked up her axe.

Serena’s eyes widened. The guide had definitely been right next to her, but suddenly disappeared from sight.

Kyaang!

She suddenly appeared next to a brush wolf a little distance away, struck the wolf’s head, and disappeared from view again.

The guide was so fast she left no afterimage, only revealing herself when striking the wolves’ necks.

In the time it took Serena to blink a few times, Olive had chopped off all the brush wolves’ heads and stretched with a bright smile.

“Did you see my wood-chopping skills? Huh? Cool, right?”

It sounded nice to call her a guide or treasure hunter, but Olive’s actual profession was thief. Sometimes she also worked as an assassin.

‘So people who died without anyone knowing were killed by someone like this.’

Of course, the knights on the escort side were also superhuman level, so the balance between offense and defense would be matched.

Serena once again realized the power balance of the fantasy world and expressed her gratitude to Olive.

“Thank you for saving me.”

“Don’t mention it! Huh! I’m different from certain incompetent people!”

“Incompetent?”

Olive gave a meaningful smile as she helped the princess to her feet.

“The prince and the knight all got charmed by the dryad. Huh. It would have been a disaster if even the count got charmed.”

“The count has Philia as his wife, so how could he be charmed?”

“That’s true. No wait. Now that I think about it, that’s scary?”

Olive shivered as if hit by cold wind.

“The countess is prettier than the dryad. Is it okay for a person to be that pretty? Gasp, could it be that I’m not charmed because I built immunity from seeing the countess’s beauty? That makes sense! It’s so plausible it’s even scarier!”

Olive fell into temporary confusion, seemingly feeling cosmic horror at Philia’s beauty.

Serena was feeling pride in her maid’s beauty when something touched her shoulder. It was Ying’s hand.

“You worked hard.”

“Thank you for acknowledging it.”

“One who would rule over many people should naturally lead by example and save people. You’ll become a good king.”

Just when Serena thought she was being praised, it ended with nonsense. Serena lowered Ying’s hand from her shoulder.

“Huji prioritizes sons, so my sibling will be the next king. Don’t say such things as it could cause misunderstandings.”

Olive, who had been feeling cosmic horror at the universal beauty, was startled.

“Huh. The princess wasn’t going to be the next king? I naturally thought the princess would become king. Huh.”

Serena frowned.

Become king? Me?

A princess could live carefree, but a king couldn’t live carefree.

There were often people who suggested Serena become king, but Serena always firmly refused.

‘I’m going to live carefree without working.’

Even the current hardship she was enduring was out of gratitude to the people who paid taxes so she could live carefree.

If she became king, it wouldn’t end with vague gratitude but she’d have to take responsibility too, and Serena wasn’t capable of that.

“That’s ridiculous. How could I become king?”

“You seem like you’d do well. At least you wouldn’t use people’s lives as expendable resources. Huh.”

“Olive, you don’t understand. The position makes the person. Even people who weren’t like that are forced into such thinking when they become king.”

“That’s just an excuse by high-ranking people who don’t want to take responsibility. Huh.”

‘It’s true though.’

Besides, Olive didn’t know it, but Serena was already using human lives as expendable resources.

‘I’m throwing away my own life like it’s nothing.’

However, since she learned a lesson from this incident, she planned to die rather than suffer in the future.

Serena fainted while being carried on Ying’s back.

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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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