Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 195

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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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195. This Chain is Very Sturdy

A situation where the enemy can attack allies, but allies can’t counterattack and must only dodge or defend.

‘How can there be such a damn situation.’

Woof woof!

The Party shared their bewilderment while listening to the barking sounds of the tooth book.

-Can’t we just dispel the magic?

If they dispel the magic on the book, it would return to being an ordinary book that neither barks nor bites, so wouldn’t dispelling the magic work?

The Alchemist showed reluctance at Ralph’s opinion.

-That’s just a legend. No one knows the magic to create tooth books or the magic to dispel them.

The pack of tooth books had taken control of three sides of the reading room. It was impossible to investigate the books in the reading room without dealing with the tooth books.

Woof woof! Bark bark! Grwawaroowoorwang! Gwegwegehooweok!

The tooth books became even more excited and thrashed about when the Party didn’t leave. The chains fixing the books to the reading desks stretched taut.

Fortunately, the chains restraining the tooth books were thick and sturdy, and the reading desks were firmly fixed to the floor.

If the chains had broken or the reading desks had been pulled out, the Party would have been chased around the 2nd Floor of the Library by tooth books clacking their teeth together.

The assault team faced a difficult situation. Here, the Party’s Newcomer stepped forward.

-Would you leave it to me?

-Black Knight, do you have a plan?

-I’ll try charging in first. Count Hanson, could you lend me your shield?

What was Count Alpha’s plan? Ralph detached the shield fixed to his wrist and handed it to the Imperial Knight.

Count Alpha repeatedly shrunk and enlarged the shield, learning how to use the magic shield.

The Imperial Knight with a face like a rose and body like a rock put down his beloved double-edged axe and stood before the tooth book holding only a shield.

Woof woof!

The tooth book bared its hideous teeth and pounced on the Knight.

The Knight didn’t dodge the charging Monster and extended his left arm.

Argh, arghargh angyang.

The tooth book mercilessly bit and tore at Count Alpha’s left arm.

Just when it seemed the Knight’s left arm would be torn off, fortunately the teeth couldn’t pierce through the black matte armor.

While the tooth book was distracted biting his left arm, Count Alpha grabbed the chain connected to the book and wound it tightly around the reading desk.

After winding up all the chain, he inserted the magic shield into the tooth book’s mouth and enlarged the shield. The tooth book’s mouth gaped wide open.

Count Alpha pulled his freed left arm out of the Monster’s mouth and quickly retrieved the magic shield by shrinking it.

Argh argh!

Where the Knight had left, only the tooth book remained, its chain shortened so it couldn’t leave the reading desk, only able to increase its barking.

The Party watching this scene was impressed.

‘Oh ho.’

Count Alpha’s strategy was simple, but definitely effective.

However, it was too dangerous a plan to praise. Serena pointed out that issue.

-Count Alpha. Wouldn’t it have been dangerous if the armor had been pierced?

-Our Knight Order’s armor is crafted to withstand Monster attacks. I trusted the armor.

‘Saying that makes it seem like the Heuji Royal Knights’ armor is weak.’

Even though Heuji was a wealthy nation, it couldn’t match the Empire, a gangster nation in the center of the Continent.

Serena looked again at Count Alpha’s full-body armor painted black and matte.

‘That black paint must definitely have some effect too.’

She envied the Empire’s financial power and technology that could equip the entire Knight Order with such armor.

-Should we leave the tooth books to Black Knight?

-If Your Highness the Princess permits, I will handle them.

There was no other method besides entrusting it to Count Alpha. When Serena nodded, Count Alpha again asked Ralph for understanding.

-Count Hanson. Could you lend me the shield a bit longer?

-Yes, use it as you please! Thank you for showing such brave wit!

Ralph’s eyes sparkled, seemingly pleased with the simple brute-force method Count Alpha had shown.

She worried he might recklessly imitate it, but fortunately Count Alpha was a Knight who understood propriety.

-Understanding the limits of one’s equipped weapons is also part of a Knight’s spirit. I did this trusting my armor, so Count Hanson must assess and approach with your own equipment.

At the senior Knight’s advice, the Young Boy’s already sparkling eyes shone even brighter.

-Yes! I’ll keep that in mind!

Count Alpha approached the Monster to tie up the next tooth book.

Ralph burned with determination to emulate the Imperial Knight’s valor, taking in Count Alpha’s movements with his eyes.

As if resonating with the Knight’s will, the gray star above the Young Knight’s head trembled finely.

‘Oh ho?’

Unfortunately, the gray star’s trembling was only momentary. But even trembling was commendable, wasn’t it?

‘Well done, Ralph Hanson! Watch and learn diligently to become 4-star, 5-star!’

Our Child was born with five stars! He’s 3-star now but he’s a Child who will grow great!

Count Alpha was very active, neutralizing tooth books by making adjacent ones’ chains tangle together, or asking Olive and Ying for help to divert their attention.

Finally, only one tooth book remained.

The tooth book located at the very back, in the center of the reading room, was 1.5 times larger than the other tooth books and had sharper teeth.

If this tooth book were handled the same as the other books, Count Alpha’s left arm would obviously be torn off.

The Imperial Knight pondered while looking at the tooth book that clacked its hideous teeth menacingly at him.

Seeing this, Olive gestured to Ying and took out rope.

The plan was to put the rope in its mouth like a gag and fix it to the reading desk while the tooth book was focused on Count Alpha.

Since it was a plan that needed no long explanation, the three moved quickly.

Count Alpha drew the tooth book’s attention, and Olive and Ying succeeded in getting the rope in its mouth on the first try.

The rest was easy. Using the Archer’s monstrous strength to drag the tooth book to the reading desk without giving it a chance to resist and fix it with chains.

Mmph, keeeng.

The tooth book, fixed to the reading desk with rope and chains in its mouth, whimpered.

Olive mouthed ‘what a nothing creature’ and dusted off her hands.

The Archer alternately rolled both shoulders, having exerted some effort pulling the tooth book.

Count Alpha returned the magic shield to Ralph.

-Thank you for lending it. It’s an excellent shield.

-Not at all! All three of you were magnificent!

Count Alpha smiled slightly, seemingly pleased with the Young Knight who looked up at him with admiring eyes.

-Just in case, Black Knight and I will watch these guys. The rest of you look for books.

Serena approached the nearest desk.

Each time Serena got closer, the adjacent tooth books barked as if ready to bite, but their chains were too short and only their teeth clacked together.

Still, she couldn’t help being scared, and Serena’s heart grew cold each time the books barked.

‘Let’s find it quickly.’

Woof woof! Arrrr! Keng keng! Keoheongheoong!

There was only one way to escape this barking hell. Find a book different from the surrounding books!

‘Ancient Empire Mu. Why Did the Sacred Dark Empire Mu Perish. Is Mu Legend or History. Making Delicious Braised Radish. The Triangular Relationship of Light, Darkness, and Fire.’

Among books about ancient empires whose existence was much disputed among Continental historians, a cookbook and theology book were oddly mixed in.

‘It’s one of these two?’

The cookbook or the triangular relationship of gods.

From the moment ‘Sacred’ was attached before Ancient Empire, the answer was already decided and Serena just had to choose.

‘This is it! The cookbook!’

Serena raised her hand high and waved it to inform the Party of her discovery.

The group that instantly gathered around the Princess looked at the book title and immediately felt certain it was the answer, laughing quietly.

Serena carefully pulled out the cookbook so the stack of books wouldn’t collapse.

Parararararark.

This time the entire floor didn’t shake with a roar, but the books in the reading room flapped their pages like wings and flew.

The books that left the reading room gathered where there were no railings and formed a path.

Since they were all different books, a path with varying widths was completed.

The Party gaped and watched this amazing spectacle, then soon realized a terrible fact they shouldn’t have realized.

It was such a terrible truth, especially such a terrible truth for the Princess, that no one dared mention what they had realized.

Except for the rather oblivious Alchemist.

-A path made of books. Was it really okay to step on the books stuck in the bookshelf path?

Watching the Alchemist, whose handwriting was so bad it was hard to read yet he still bothered to write it on paper and show it to the party, Olive answered.

-The Count is just a genius, not an all-around talent. That title belongs to the Princess.

Serena twitched her cheeks and smiled majestically.

-It’s fine. Knowing we can move around comfortably is a great gain.

Oh no. Count Randy, who had focused on the truth and forgotten about the person hurt by it, belatedly regretted his words.

-Lady Serena, that’s not what I meant!

-Enough. The Count’s handwriting is hard to read, so unless it’s something important, let’s discuss it later.

The Archer, who had stayed behind to examine the desk where the book had disappeared, discovered something important. The paper and pen passed into the Archer’s hands.

-Found it.

On the desk where books and book towers had been messily stacked, there was a library usage rules notice board. It had been discovered late because it was buried under books.

The notice board was damaged in places with letters erased, but there was one rule that could be read properly.

‘Rule 3. You cannot take out books that haven’t been checked out. (Up to 5 books per person for checkout.)’

In a way, it was the easiest rule to follow among all the usage rules they had figured out so far.

Because they just had to avoid taking books outside the 8th Layer.

‘I was curious about rules 4 and 5.’

It was disappointing, but what could they do? The Princess consoled her regretful heart and placed her foot on the book stairs.

‘I never thought I’d actually be stepping on books.’

They had already confirmed that the book stairs weren’t a trap when the Guide had stepped on them and climbed up.

Serena took a deep breath and climbed up the book stairs.

When moving by stepping only on the edges and shelves of bookcases, Ying had helped from the side, but there was no one to help with the book stairs, making it a bit scary.

‘There are no railings or protective devices, just stepping on books suspended in mid-air.’

It was three stories high with nothing but empty space below, making her feel dizzy.

‘I’d bet my remaining eye that if I fall, it’s a direct drop to the lounge floor with no invisible walls.’

In situations like this, she should walk without looking at the ground, but the books were all different sizes, making it impossible not to look down.

Serena trusted the Guide and Archer watching from above and below, and courageously climbed the book stairs step by step.

The Guide, who had been walking just one step ahead instead of dozens of steps ahead out of concern for the Princess, twitched her nose.

Olive furrowed her brow and sent a stop signal to the party.

The Guide hopped up to the upper floor, rolled her round eyes around, and came back.

‘What’s wrong?’

When Serena gestured to ask if she should continue, Olive gestured that it was okay to come up.

The Princess trusted the Guide’s words and continued climbing the book stairs.

And when she got somewhat close to the upper floor, she understood why the Guide had suddenly made such a subtle expression.

‘The smell of blood.’

The smell of blood, which she had become accustomed to since coming to the Labyrinth, tickled Serena’s nose.

The party members, whose senses were more sensitive than Serena’s, had apparently already detected the smell of blood, as she could feel unrest from behind.

‘Please don’t tell me there’s another Seraph corpse.’

As soon as they arrived at the 8th Layer, they had received a note from Seraph, and they had also encountered Richard.

What if Seraph and the Priests had encountered Richard before moving on to the 9th Layer?

Even if not Richard, what if they had been chased by the formidable Shadow Tiger?

Serena’s thoughts always flowed toward the negative rather than the positive.

Though she felt she would never get used to seeing her sibling’s corpse no matter how many times, Serena prepared herself mentally and stepped onto the 28th floor of Heuji’s Labyrinth.

Following her gaze along the plush carpet stained red with blood, what Serena discovered was.

‘A Knight?’

The headless corpse of a Knight from the Royal House of Heuji.

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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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