Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 202

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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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202. There’s a Space Behind the Bookshelf

In the labyrinth, some hiding spaces were visible from afar, while others couldn’t be seen due to optical illusions and could only be discovered by approaching closely.

-I’ll go check everything out~

Woof woof!

As the Guide stuck her body out, the Tooth Book shot out like lightning, then was dragged away as the chain pulled it back.

It was safe while the Tooth Book was being dragged.

Olive slowly followed the Tooth Book and arrived at the first hidden space.

A Labyrinth Book that had been disguised as a book jumped out, but died from a dagger strike before it could flutter its pages.

With the chain fully wound and the Tooth Book stuck to the wall, when Olive peeked her head out, the Tooth Book charged again.

Bark bark!

Olive moved to the second hidden space. Here, a Labyrinth Rat that had been crouched in the blind spot welcomed the Guide.

Squeak-!

The Guide used her dagger to help the Labyrinth Rat smile even wider.

The third space reached by the same method was safe. In the fourth space, a bookshelf suddenly collapsed and crashed down on Olive.

Olive quickly dodged and retreated to the third space.

Olive was getting closer to the Tooth Book. Now she had to simultaneously lure and dodge the Tooth Book’s attacks.

Olive easily dodged the Tooth Book’s attacks and finally reached near the wall where the chain was fixed.

About one bookshelf’s distance away. There was a handle attached to the wall.

It seemed to be structured so that pulling the handle would wind up the chain and fix the Tooth Book to the wall, preventing it from attacking.

‘Who do they think they’re fooling?’

A novice adventurer would immediately pull the handle upon seeing it, but Olive wasn’t a rookie. She was a seasoned expert.

Never operate anything without directly confirming what the handle is connected to.

This was a safety rule written in the blood of labyrinth dogs.

‘It was terrifying when I pulled a handle and an iron ball came rolling from behind.’

Olive had a small build, so she squeezed into a wall crevice and barely survived, but the other dogs were flattened by the iron ball.

‘No random thoughts while working~’

Olive killed her presence and moved to the side of the Tooth Book. The Tooth Book didn’t notice the Guide’s approach and panted against the wall.

The path to the side of the Tooth Book had no hiding spaces. Olive prepared to grab a bookshelf and jump if necessary, then provoked the Tooth Book.

Even when the Tooth Book sensed Olive’s presence, it didn’t attack or move. Its attack direction was fixed in a straight line.

‘This makes it easy.’

The Guide returned to the party with good news.

***

Thanks to the Guide, the party easily reached the path where the Tooth Book’s attacks couldn’t reach.

Standing beside the Tooth Book that could only attack frontally and couldn’t attack from the sides or rear, the party all gave Olive thumbs up.

Seeing this, Olive did a little shoulder dance.

After advancing a bit more while dealing with monsters, they came to a fork in the road.

Usually, the Guide would measure the distance of paths using methods only she knew and go for the shorter path first.

This time was different. Olive shrugged her shoulders.

-The lengths are similar~

In this case, the choice fell to Serena, the party’s leader.

Serena was about to shout “left” out of habit from her previous life, but narrowed her eyes upon seeing the books packed full on the bookshelves.

‘Could the books be giving hints?’

Just as they found the path by the order of blooming flowers in the plant labyrinth, in a book labyrinth, books might indicate the correct path.

Count Randy seemed to have the same thought and carefully examined the books on the shelves.

-The left looks good.

The Alchemist pointed left. When Serena asked for his reasoning, Count Randy’s eyes sparkled like Ralph’s.

-The books on the left are interesting.

He looked like he wanted to immediately pull out a bunch of books, lean against the bookshelf, and enjoy reading to his heart’s content.

Olive, who had deciphered Count Randy’s poor handwriting, waved her hands and pointed right.

-Then we should go right~

-Why? The left books are more interesting.

-Because they’re interesting, we should go toward the boring books~ If we go left, we’ll wander the labyrinth more~

-That’s because Olive doesn’t read. We should go toward the interesting books to find the end of the labyrinth.

The Guide and Alchemist argued earnestly about left versus right, then asked for the party’s opinion.

-Where does everyone think is good?

-We need to get out of the labyrinth, right~?

-I think left is correct! Following interesting books is right!

-I think right is correct. If we follow interesting books, won’t we be enchanted by the labyrinth?

The opinions were evenly split 2-2 between left and right.

The Archer shrugged, saying either way was fine. In the end, Serena’s vote would determine the party’s direction.

‘Hmm. By habit, it would be left. But the point about being enchanted by going toward interesting books seems right too.’

After deep consideration, the Princess decided.

‘Alright. I’ve decided.’

She took her magic staff and stood in the center of the fork. Then carefully stood the magic staff on the soft carpet.

As the owner’s hand let go, the magic staff swayed left and right before falling to the right.

-We go right.

Olive silently mouthed cheers of joy. Count Randy hung his head and let his arms dangle.

The right corner of the dejected Alchemist’s mouth turned up.

-Heh. Actually, there are no uninteresting books in the world.

Serena looked at the philosophy books lined up in the right direction and thought.

‘No. Only boring books are laid out here.’

The party walked in the direction the staff had indicated. Not knowing if it was the right direction, a crossroads appeared.

Grrr!

A Tooth Book jumped out from in front of the party, then was dragged away by its chain.

Growl!

A Tooth Book jumped out from the left of the crossroads, then was dragged away by its chain.

Clang clang!

Similarly, a Tooth Book jumped out from the right path of the crossroads.

All paths were blocked by books that hated saliva. The Guide stepped forward again and returned safely.

Sadly, the news she brought this time wasn’t good.

-Left and straight ahead are dead ends~ We have to go right, but they attack in sequence, you know? You have to match the rhythm well and hide here~

Olive pointed to the hiding spot on the magic map. The lurking Labyrinth Book had apparently torn out all its text pages or something.

Ying nodded with an expressionless face, and Ralph and Count Alpha also carefully listened to the Guide’s explanation.

However, Serena and Count Randy’s faces were dark.

The two slow movers had no confidence in dodging the sequential attacks of the Tooth Books while moving.

‘I can’t even play rhythm games that only require finger tapping, so how am I supposed to dodge attacks!’

Let’s say they somehow dodge the left and front Tooth Books.

They had to reach the recessed space after the front Tooth Book’s attack ended but before the right Tooth Book jumped out, which was impossible with Count Randy and Serena’s running speed.

‘It’s physically impossible!’

Count Alpha stepped forward, having noticed their inner thoughts.

-I’ll carry both of you and move.

The plan was for Count Alpha, who had a good build and strength, to carry the Princess and Alchemist.

It felt bad to impose so much, but there was no other way for the two slow ones to get through this section.

First, Count Alpha went back and forth to the hiding space alone to check the path directly.

The Imperial Knight shouldered Count Randy to check the weight, then created a gust of wind and ran.

After Count Alpha safely returned after setting Count Randy down, Ralph moved first.

Next Ying departed, and after Count Alpha took a brief rest, he was about to pick up the Princess when the Guide raised her hand to stop him.

‘What’s happening?’

Serena looked down at Olive while being carried on Count Alpha’s shoulder. The Guide’s expression had hardened.

Snap snap! Growl! Clang clang!

The Guide’s expression hardened because of the change shown by the Tooth Books.

The Tooth Books’ attack speed had increased to a degree that Serena could feel.

It was a speed that Olive could somehow dodge and evade, but Count Alpha would need luck.

While carrying the burden called Serena, it was definitely a speed that would result in being bitten.

‘Cowardly bastards!’

When a certain number of people pass through, the pattern becomes more difficult. It was a very wicked, underhanded, yet effective method.

-Sorry, Princess. I should have sent Zero later.

Usually Ying keeps the last position, but this time Olive stayed behind and sent Ying first, resulting in this mess.

Serena got down from Count Alpha’s shoulder and shook her head.

-It’s not your fault.

-Should I have Zero come back now?

-No. I don’t think that would slow down their speed.

-Your Highness. If you give me some time to warm up my muscles, I could somehow manage.

-No. It’s dangerous.

-Then how about I block at least one with my axe and shield?

The Tooth Books blocking the path were too large to block their mouths with a shield.

Instead, the suggestion to block the books’ snouts with a giant double-bladed axe sounded plausible.

‘It would be fine, but it’s still dangerous. We might lose the precious axe.’

Serena glared at the three super-large books barking like small dogs in sequence with her single eye.

‘If we could just restrain one, we could pass through easily. Isn’t there a way?’

The Tooth Books were unfortunately books, so they couldn’t be attacked. Even if she damaged the books and complained that they were blocking the path, the librarian wouldn’t be lenient.

‘It was convenient being able to tie them to reading desks, but there are no reading desks here. Isn’t there something to wrap chains around?’

Serena pondered whether she could find a large, sturdy column to wrap chains around, then thought of ice arrow magic.

‘Couldn’t I pierce the loose sections of the chain with ice arrows to briefly hold the Tooth Books? Chains aren’t books, so it’s okay to attack them.’

For that, the ice would need to be solid and not easily breakable, but she was confident about this. Ice arrow was Serena’s specialty magic.

The problem was how to cast the magic. To cast magic, she needed to recite incantations.

‘Silence in the library.’

The solemn library usage rules blocked magic incantations.

Couldn’t she cast silent magic like Grey?

‘That’s just Grey!’

What do you mean specialty ice arrow? She wasn’t even confident about casting the 1st-tier Light Orb spell silently.

‘Grey is the weird one!’

If only there were ice arrow magic scrolls here, it would be so convenient and nice, but the Princess possessed exactly 0 scrolls.

Since she couldn’t rely on tools, she ultimately had to handle it physically, but Count Alpha’s proposed method was too dangerous.

‘How did we come all the way to the 8th Layer without getting a single magic scroll from chests… Scroll?’

A somewhat bold idea occurred to the Princess.

Nothing to lose. Serena approached Olive, who was discussing timing for slipping between the Tooth Books, and gestured for her to open her bag.

Olive’s round eyes became even rounder as she hugged and protected her bag. Serena quickly wrote her request.

-Give me paper from the Labyrinth Book.

-Why that?

-I have something to try, so take it out. Count Alpha, wait a moment. If I succeed, you must move immediately.

Olive, clearly showing her puzzled feelings, took out the Labyrinth Book’s corpse—that is, paper—from her bag.

Serena took a deep breath and wrote magic incantations on the paper while visualizing a powerful ice stake to secure the chain in her mind.

-What I desire is a powerful ice pillar that won’t break even when chains strike it.

Serena moved her mana as if casting magic while writing the same incantation on the paper several times.

At first, her hand holding the pen trembled violently and even drawing a single stroke was difficult, but it gradually improved.

Then something amazing happened.

Cold air gathered around Serena and a massive ice stake was generated.

The Guide and Imperial Knight couldn’t hide their amazement. Serena had no time to pay attention to them and immediately drove the completed ice stake into the chain.

‘Now!’

The Imperial Knight lifted the Princess and ran before Serena could signal. The Guide, who came to her senses slightly late, followed behind.

The Party waiting in the hidden space on the right path silently welcomed the joining of the Princess, Imperial Knight, and Guide.

-How did you use magic?

Count Randy asked his curiosity as soon as he confirmed the Princess’s safety.

Serena tried to write an answer but couldn’t.

Her hand trembled violently from the tension of carefully writing each stroke with dedication, will, and mana.

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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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