Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 144

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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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144. Even If You Wring a Chicken’s Neck, Dawn Still Comes (1)

 

Cock-a-doodle-doooo! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck cluck!

 

Squaaawk!

 

Cluckaaaaawk!

 

Outside the labyrinth, it would still be early morning when the sun hadn’t risen yet and only the eastern sky was slightly brightening.

 

The chicken golem named Chicken Golem came out of its cozy nest, drank water, and climbed onto its perch.

 

After clearing its throat with small clucking sounds, Chicken Golem crowed vigorously.

 

Cock-a-doodle-doooooo-!

 

“Aaaaah! That crazy chicken bastard!”

 

At the first crow announcing dawn, Olive, who had been sleeping on top of a capsule, bolted upright.

 

Olive was about to throw the pillow she’d been using at Chicken Golem but barely held back.

 

“Hold it in, Olive! That thing lays golden eggs! You can’t hit it! Chickens don’t lay eggs when they’re hurt!”

 

Chicken Golem ignored the Guide and crowed vigorously again.

 

Cock-a-dooook!

 

At the second crow, people who had been sleeping soundly inside their capsules also emerged with dazed faces.

 

The Remaining Party, who had been waking up to chicken sounds for two days, had peaceful faces, but the Assault Team did not.

 

“Sir! Ralph Hanson! Wake-up complete! Ugh!”

 

Ralph tried to bolt upright from his bed but hit his head on the capsule ceiling.

 

“I want to sleep more.”

 

Count Randy got up with a grimace, complaining of fatigue, and Ying covered her ears with a pillow and tried to go back to sleep.

 

Chicken Golem crowed for the third time as if telling them to hurry up and get up.

 

The Princess, who had fallen asleep as if unconscious, couldn’t stand the loud chicken sounds and burst out of her capsule.

 

‘It’s too noisy to sleep! Wasn’t it supposed to prevent noise? Was I scammed?’

 

The product description clearly stated that the capsule bed prevented noise problems.

 

Reading the product description carefully once more, Serena realized what noise prevention meant.

 

‘It only prevents wall noise and vibrations between capsules since they’re attached to each other, but external noise comes through as is!’

 

She was disappointed that sound wasn’t completely blocked, but on the other hand, she could understand it.

 

‘Well, yeah. If something happened outside and you couldn’t hear it, that would be a big problem.’

 

For that reason, the capsule beds didn’t block out Chicken Golem’s enthusiastic crowing.

 

“What should we do about this? Everyone must be tired. Chicken Golem, shh! Shush! Stop it now!”

 

Lavenda looked at the exhausted faces of the Assault Team and panicked, trying to calm the chicken golem.

 

But Chicken Golem wouldn’t shut its beak, as if crowing at dawn was its sole reason for existence.

 

“I saw Chicken Golem lay an egg! Amazing!”

 

Lavenda showed Chicken Golem the golden egg she took out from the nest.

 

Only then did Chicken Golem seem somewhat satisfied and flew from the perch to the fountain to drink water.

 

Serena pressed her forehead.

 

“Does it crow like this every single day?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Lavenda answered nervously.

 

Serena gritted her teeth.

 

‘I was hoping to sleep in a bit, but it does this every day?’

 

The Remaining Party could just change their bedtime and wake up early.

 

But the Assault Team was under the stress of not knowing when they might die while conquering the labyrinth.

 

At least in the lobby, which was a safe zone, they needed to relax completely and rest, but they couldn’t rest if Chicken Golem made noise every dawn.

 

“It crows every day! Aaaaah! No way!”

 

Indeed, Olive screamed in despair at the terrible news.

 

“That chicken bastard! It lays golden eggs so we can’t even scold it! Can’t even wring its neck!”

 

“Can’t we train the chicken not to crow?”

 

The Princess sought advice from the party’s intellectual, the Count.

 

Count Randy looked troubled.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m also ignorant about chicken ecology…”

 

If they were outside the labyrinth, he would have answered that he’d look into it, but there was no way to gain new knowledge in the labyrinth.

 

While everyone was troubled, Ralph stepped forward, rubbing his head that had hit the capsule ceiling.

 

“I have something that comes to mind.”

 

The Young Knight said that collecting eggs was his responsibility at home.

 

Among the party consisting of royalty and nobles who had only seen chickens on dining tables, labyrinth explorers, and a cold city Mysterious Stranger, Ralph was the one who knew chickens best.

 

“My sister-in-law was pregnant and came to our house, and she couldn’t sleep because of the chicken crowing at dawn. The chicken coop was some distance from the house, but since it was a sound she wasn’t used to hearing, it seemed louder.”

 

Serena gestured for him to continue.

 

“When Mother found out about this, she covered the entire chicken coop with thick cloth. She said chickens crow when they sense light, so if you block the light, they won’t crow. Indeed, the chickens stayed asleep unless we removed the cloth, and crowed when we took it away.”

 

“Very simple. Worth trying.”

 

The Princess was about to order them to cover the chicken coop with cloth tomorrow night when the Knight hurriedly continued.

 

“But!”

 

“But?”

 

“When we did that, maybe because the chickens lacked light, their egg-laying cycle slowed down a bit. I don’t know about Chicken Golem, but that’s what happened with our chickens.”

 

Gold and delicious eggs vs. good sleep.

 

After careful consideration, the Princess chose sleep, which was directly connected to safety.

 

“Try it tonight. If it works, we’ll cover the nest when we return from conquering and need rest.”

 

The egg that Chicken Golem laid that morning went into Ralph’s mouth.

 

A day that started early unintentionally.

 

Serena was caught by Grey and learned the theory of electricity generation magic.

 

To aid understanding, she also learned high-tier magic theory.

 

‘Do I really need to learn up to 5th tier?’

 

She could barely use 4th tier magic, so did she really need to learn theory up to 5th tier?

 

Serena shuddered at the mental labor and arranged simple offerings, lighting aroma incense containing mana herbs.

 

Closing her eyes and meditating, Serena’s consciousness reached the God of Magic.

 

More precisely.

 

“Mortal. What brings you to seek me? 1. Praise and proof of faith. 2. Report of blasphemy. 3…”

 

To a thought construct created by the God of Magic.

 

‘This terrible automated response is awful no matter when I encounter it.’

 

Learning new magic, which people sought most often, was option 42.

 

Saying 42 didn’t mean you could learn immediately either.

 

“You have chosen to learn new magic. State the tier of magic you wish to learn. 1. 1st tier. 2. 2nd tier.”

 

“Number 1, great mysterious one!”

 

“You have chosen 1st tier magic. State the attribute of magic you wish to learn. 1. Non-attribute. 2. Water attribute.”

 

Though the Princess had been trained by various automated response systems in her previous life to quickly state what she wanted, this time she waited obediently until the options finished.

 

The reason being.

 

Because if the order of attributes was fixed, gods whose attributes were pushed back might be displeased, so the numbers kept changing.

 

‘She’s not called a popular god for nothing. She’s considerate and fair.’

 

This time, number 5 was the electricity attribute. She was lucky today.

 

Because there were so damn many gods, there were many attributes too.

 

Serena quickly shouted.

 

“Number 5, electricity attribute, brilliant magic!”

 

Mages who hastily acquired magic often went insane due to soul damage.

 

People said it was because human souls couldn’t withstand the divine radiance and got damaged, but Serena thought slightly differently.

 

‘Didn’t they go crazy from frustration listening to automated responses repeatedly?’

 

Anyway, the Princess quickly reached the magic she wanted.

 

The God of Magic bestowed the desired power upon the mortal who craved mystery and power, so Serena should have opened her eyes feeling the new magic injected into her head.

 

‘I didn’t learn it.’

 

Unlike usual, Serena failed to acquire the magic.

 

When the Princess opened her one remaining right eye, the old-looking child boldly demanded.

 

“You learned it, right? Try casting it.”

 

“I didn’t learn it.”

 

“What? It’s just a 1st-tier spell?”

 

Grey was shocked, but originally even 1st-tier spells were rarely learned in one attempt.

 

Serena placed down a new offering and closed her eyes again.

 

Enduring the automatic responses that started from the beginning again, the Princess barely reached the desired spell.

 

And once again failed to acquire the magic.

 

When the Princess gritted her teeth and opened her eyes, Grey noticed the failure from her expression and raised his staff as if to strike the Princess, then replaced it with pointing.

 

“Failed again? You’re not focusing properly!”

 

Smack!

 

Grey hadn’t hit Serena, but Philia appeared and struck Grey’s bottom.

 

“How dare you! What rudeness is this toward Lady Serena!”

 

“Aaah!”

 

Grey rubbed his bottom as if this was the first such humiliation in the world.

 

Philia sternly scolded her rude and ill-mannered nephew.

 

“Don’t act arrogantly relying on His Highness the Prince and Grandfather’s favor! A servant’s duty is to pretend not to see even when their master makes mistakes!”

 

The loyal maid extinguished the fire on the aroma incense and helped her master stand up.

 

“Lady Serena. You’re tired right now. Let’s take a walk together. Or shall we take a nap together?”

 

Serena sighed inwardly.

 

Failing to acquire magic twice in a row was shocking even to Serena herself.

 

‘It would be better to rest and change my mood.’

 

The Princess took her friend’s hand, stood up, and walked slowly.

 

Philia linked arms with Serena and led her to the herb garden.

 

“The trees I’m growing have grown quite a lot!”

 

Philia chattered about how she watered the trees daily with thoughts of Serena in her heart.

 

Indeed, the magic-imbued branches had grown considerably.

 

Whether the trees grew from the Labyrinth’s magic power or Philia’s devotion was unclear, but Serena decided to think it was the latter.

 

The branches grew straight and sturdy, showing off their vitality.

 

“Grow big and strong to become Lady Serena’s staff~”

 

Philia drew spring water and sprinkled it on the tree with her heart.

 

Even without sunlight, the water and area around the tree sparkled brightly.

 

At the same time, Philia also seemed to shine.

 

However, since sparkling optical illusions around Heuji Jeolmi were common, Serena didn’t think much of it.

 

Instead, she stared blankly at the herb garden to empty her complicated mind.

 

“I’m sorry, Lady Serena.”

 

“For what?”

 

“If I had talent in magic, you wouldn’t need to struggle alone trying to learn magic.”

 

Serena smiled bitterly.

 

“It’s not like that.”

 

“It is like that. Since there’s no magician other than Lady Serena, Grey is tormenting you.”

 

Philia clenched her delicate fist tightly.

 

“Grey is really detestable. How can he be so rude and ill-mannered? I should discipline him strictly.”

 

“Don’t use violence. Children that cheeky become violent if you use violence on them.”

 

“Yes, I understand. I already thought he was violent since he carries around a staff with a skull on it. Why does he carry that hideous thing around?”

 

Serena pondered using Philia’s chattering voice as background music.

 

‘Why won’t it learn?’

 

Regardless of Serena’s aversion to thunder and lightning, the theory was perfect.

 

It wasn’t a very difficult spell either, so she should master it instantly, but it was strange that she kept failing.

 

‘Was my aversion to lightning that severe? It’s a 1st-tier spell, so it’s just static electricity level.’

 

Mental imagery is important for casting magic.

 

The mental image Serena held about electricity was fear, destruction, and ruin.

 

The electric attacks of Alligator Rius, the King of the Sewers, were also strong, but slightly different from that.

 

The lightning within Serena was an intense flash that completely destroyed one thing.

 

Powerful enough to destroy a tower with a single attack.

 

‘Could it be.’

 

Serena, who had examined the mental image she held about electricity, furrowed her brow at the possibility that came to mind.

 

‘Is it that I can’t learn weak magic because I perceive it too destructively?’

 

The Princess suddenly stood up and returned to the lobby.

 

The maid who had been enjoying her time monopolizing her master made a sad face and followed behind.

 

“Offerings! Give me the fly heads we got before the gems! And the boss alligator heart too!”

 

Serena arranged five fly heads and the boss alligator heart.

 

“Your Highness Princess! What are you doing wasting precious offerings!”

 

Even if the ritual failed, the god wouldn’t return the offered sacrifices.

 

Serena ignored Grey’s protest and lit the aroma incense.

 

Though the magic herb content was lacking, the offerings were fresh and of good quality, so it should be fine.

 

The Princess closed her eyes and her consciousness contacted the God of Magic’s thoughts.

 

To the question asking what tier of magic she wanted to learn, Serena steeled her will and answered.

 

“Number 5. I want to learn 5th-tier magic, Great One!”

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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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