Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 219

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

219. Getting Stabbed in the Foot by a Trusted Lightning Bolt

“Wow. How refreshing.”

Kwaaaaang!

Mooooooooo!

The giant Black Bear’s front paw struck the bull’s head with its sharp horns.

The bull staggered, unable to open its eyes properly from that single punch. The Black Bear’s consecutive punches flew toward the Minotaur.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwaaack!

Each blow landed without fail, and additional strikes from hook-like claws tore the Minotaur’s face to shreds.

After the one-sided assault, the Minotaur collapsed, bleeding from both nostrils and even shedding bloody tears. Blood also streamed from its ears, suggesting brain damage.

Kuhehehehehe!

The Bear that had defeated the bull roared loudly in excitement. When the Guide cracked the whip with a whistling sound, Duri shrank her massive frame.

“Don’t be afraid. You did well.”

Count Alpha spread honey on bread and threw it to Duri. Duri, who had been frightened, caught and ate the honey-covered bread and returned to being a happy Bear.

“Woong?”

Duri pointed at the fallen Minotaur corpse as if wanting more praise.

When Count Alpha spread more honey on bread, she ate it but then gestured with her front paw to stroke her own head, indicating that wasn’t what she wanted.

“Good job, Bear.”

Olive put aside processing the Minotaur corpse and reached out to pet the Bear. Duri flattened her ears back with fearful eyes and whimpered sadly.

“Kkeung.”

“Why is she acting like this? She wasn’t like this in the Lobby?”

“She seems scared because Olive is holding a whip. Since Count Sirius gave her a snack, how about giving her some praise too?”

“You did well. Excellent.”

Count Alpha vigorously scratched behind the Bear’s head and ears, matching her massive size. Duri enjoyed the touch while glancing wistfully at Serena.

‘How cute.’

“The Minotaur’s skull is completely shattered! What tremendous strength!”

Count Randy was making terrifying observations while examining the corpse, but Serena let it go in one ear and out the other.

Because Duri was just too cute.

Look at that black Bear flapping her round ears. Though her size rivaled the fallen Minotaur, she was the cutest Bear the Reincarnated One had seen in two lifetimes.

“Kkeung.”

“Good job.”

Eventually, Serena succumbed to the cuteness and slipped her fingers behind the Bear’s ears. The dense double coat softly enveloped the Princess’s hand.

‘So soft! So warm!’

Duri seemed to like the leader’s touch, narrowing her eyes and letting out a small rumble from her throat.

Olive, who was processing the Minotaur corpse, also narrowed her eyes.

“Is that Bear really only interested in bears? Seems like she’s into women. Yo.”

“Perhaps she’s attracted to power rather than gender? She’s figured out that Lady Serena is the leader of the group.”

“Aha!”

Whether Count Randy’s guess was correct or not, it was certain that Duri followed Serena best among the 1st Group conquest team.

‘She prefers women over men, small people over large ones. Non-violent people over violent ones.’

That’s why Duri also followed Lavenda well and liked Countess Nex despite having little contact with her. She seemed to appreciate the middle-aged lady’s slow movements and quiet demeanor.

Duri gradually leaned her massive frame toward the Princess, then flopped down completely and exposed her belly.

Serena moved her whole body to earnestly scratch the Bear’s hide.

“If you can control your excitement, you won’t need to hear the whip’s sound. Try to maintain human reason over animal instinct. You’re not a Bear, but a human who can transform into a Bear, aren’t you?”

“Kkewoong.”

Whether she disliked the lecture or regretted the Princess’s touch leaving, Duri made a slightly groaning sound as she got up and shook herself off.

“All done. Let’s go to the next path. Yo.”

“Duri. Can you fight?”

“Woong!”

Duri snorted as if it wasn’t difficult at all. The Party leisurely headed to the next Crossroads.

“Wow, the Bear is really strong.”

Olive clicked her tongue in genuine admiration.

The paths were revealed from the start with no hidden Traps. Even though Duri had handled almost all battles from the 31st to 34th Floor, she showed no signs of fatigue.

And there were Treasure Chests everywhere. Most were just mirages though.

This was the most comfortable and pleasant Labyrinth conquest in the Guide’s life. Of course, Olive kept her mouth shut since speaking of it might jinx things.

“Now we reach the Leader’s Chamber. Since we’ve faced no major crises so far, sudden hardships might strike. Everyone stay alert.”

“Yes!”

“Yes, we’ll keep that in mind.”

“Woong!”

The 1st Group conquest team and Bear answered vigorously and entered the 34th Floor Boss Room.

After the Party easily defeated the expected enemy, only the Princess had anticipated the enemy that appeared next.

Mooo.

Though smaller than a real Minotaur, an armed Minotaur appeared wielding a hammer that could kill even a fully armored Knight in one blow.

As soon as the Minotaur stepped on sand soaked with its kin’s blood, it roared to make the enemies’ feet heavy.

“Ugh. My feet are heavy! Black Knight, protect the Princess and Count! Absolute defense!”

Duri whimpered low as her four paws suddenly became heavy.

While panicking but still watching the enemy, Duri suddenly perked up her ears and sniffed, then looked at the sky instead of the Minotaur.

“What I desire is.”

High in the sky, magical power writhed and condensed into tremendous force.

“Destruction that judges even giant monsters!”

Blinding light covered the Arena as lightning struck the Minotaur with a thunderous roar.

Thud.

The Minotaur’s charred black arm couldn’t support the hammer’s weight and fell onto the sand.

Olive threw her dagger at the monster’s neck. The dagger didn’t bounce off the hide but smoothly penetrated skin and muscle, embedding deep in the neck. The Minotaur died in one strike.

“Princess, you’re so cool! The best! The second strongest mage I know!”

“To prepare magic in advance for such situations! Lady Serena is truly wise.”

Flattery and praise for the Princess followed. Serena couldn’t enjoy any of it. Her head felt like it would explode from preparing the magic a bit early and waiting.

‘Ugh. My head is ringing.’

Heat from her crown spread to her nape, making it burn. The Alchemist supported the staggering Princess and helped her sit against the wall.

Serena ate pickled cucumber while Count Randy fanned her.

The Minotaur beaten to death by the Bear and the Minotaur struck by lightning. Olive smelled the burnt beef as she first stripped equipment from the lightning-struck one.

Duri, who had done nothing this time, was getting cucumber near Serena when she got bored and wandered around the Arena, sniffing.

“What’s the point of so many Treasure Chests~ when they’re all mirages~”

“Woong.”

Duri, who had been sniffing with her snout buried in sand, suddenly dug with her front paws. The Guide happened to be nearby and got showered with sand.

“Ugh! What! If you have complaints, use words!”

“Woowoong!”

Whether the Guide protested or not, the Bear enthusiastically dug through the sand. Olive’s green olive-colored eyes flashed as she watched.

“Gasp. Could it be?”

“Woong!”

“Could it be” always catches people. After digging nearly a meter deep, Duri’s front paw touched something solid instead of sand. It was a box. A box was buried in the sand.

“It’s a sparkly sparkly sparkly sparkly box!”

The Guide screamed with joy after confirming the box’s color through the sand.

Serena, who had been cooling her heated head against the wall, jumped up.

‘There really was a box?’

“Good job, Bear! Really good job!”

Olive hung onto the Bear’s head and petted Duri. Duri didn’t mind Olive’s light weight and finished digging to extract the Treasure Chest.

As Olive said, it was a magic-grade box. When Serena gave a look, Count Randy pulled out a sweet potato and threw it to Duri.

“Well done.”

“Woong!”

‘The bear tears apart monsters and finds treasure chests by scent. Why is it only 4-star?’

Duri’s performance was so overwhelming that one had to wonder why it wasn’t 5-star.

“Then this time I’ll~”

“Since Duri found it, it’s right for Duri to open it.”

“Woof!”

“3.”

The Party stopped Olive’s greedy behavior and let Duri open the treasure chest. Of course, they did give advice.

“Magic-grade chests contain escape magical tools. Keep this in mind.”

“Wooong!”

The bear’s front paw vigorously opened the magic-grade treasure chest. What could our bear have possibly wanted?

From the treasure chest came luxurious dresses and jewelry accessories in abundance.

The dresses were perfectly sized for Hana, Sesi, and Neet. Duri trembled with joy upon seeing the gorgeous dresses and accessories.

“Woooooong!”

Of course, the humans’ reactions, excluding the bear, were lukewarm.

“Duri really cares a lot about family.”

Serena deliberately left kind words, but Olive openly complained while pulling the bear’s ears.

“Ugh! This kind of stuff comes out of less shiny chests too! You should have wished for something useful in the Labyrinth!”

“Grrrr! Grrrrrr!”

“You foolish bear!”

If only it had wished for infinite salmon to eat, it would have become a useful food resource for the lobby. Perhaps because it was full, different items popped out.

‘It’s a magic-grade chest though. What a waste.’

Serena decided never again to doubt the number of stars above one’s head. With Duri’s intelligence, 4-star was correct.

Perhaps trying to match the chest grade, the gold and silver content and the quality and craftsmanship of the gems were noticeably better than what could be obtained on the 7th Floor.

Several accessories were visible that were at the level of national or noble family heirlooms.

‘They’d be good to use as offerings.’

With this much, the God of Magic would gladly accept them.

“Tsk. Even looking at those sparkling eyes won’t calm my anger!”

“Grrrr.”

When moisture gathered in Duri’s large black eyes, they sparkled more than usual. Olive grumbled while kneading the bear to her heart’s content.

The Party put aside their regret over wasting a magic-grade chest and descended to the 35th Floor.

The 1st Group conquest team smoothly moved to the 35th Floor Command Room and obtained several important pieces of information.

One was that the 35th Floor only required making crossroads choices 5 times.

The other was that all treasure chests on the 35th Floor were magic-grade chests, and one of them contained the cursed magical tool that was the Party’s objective.

‘Ugh. What a waste.’

The structure that didn’t tell you the chest grade when choosing paths, but let you see the missed chest grades after choosing paths, was truly annoying.

If Serena died here, she could both recover the wasted magic-grade chest and open the cursed chest. But Serena had no intention of doing so.

‘I’ve died twice in the 9th Layer already. Let’s end this now.’

While conquering other layers, opportunities to open other chests would come through the Labyrinth’s restoration power.

In the Final Boss Room of the 9th Floor, there was a high probability of facing multiple monsters rather than consecutive battles. Serena recalled the experienced player’s words that killing just the Floor Boss would kill the other monsters too, and prepared her magic spell.

The Boss Rooms from 31st to 34th Floors had no ceiling, allowing the sky to be visible.

The 35th Floor was different. Perhaps with an underground arena concept, blood-stained sand was spread on the floor from the start, the ceiling was blocked by thick stone ceiling, and the Floor Boss was waiting for the party in the center of the arena.

The Floor Boss of the 35th Floor was a Minotaur wearing a proper helmet and armor.

Serena smiled with satisfaction upon seeing the metal helmet and armor.

“What I desire is! Destruction to sever the great bull’s breath!”

The mana that had been waiting for the spell to complete disappeared from her body the moment the spell was finished.

Serena’s spell completion was faster than the Floor Boss raising its head.

The Party waited for the flash and merciless destruction to strike from above to below.

They waited.

“Woof?”

And waited more.

Moooooo!

The Minotaur inflicted a status ailment that made feet heavy on the Party, then stomped its feet. Seeing the bull monster take a charging stance, Olive asked the Princess in panic.

“Princess, did your magic fail? Huh?”

“That can’t be! What I desire is destruction to sever the bull’s breath!”

Clearly mana was consumed, but the magic wasn’t cast.

As Serena was too shocked and flustered, trying to hastily cast some other magic, the bull monster charged.

The Party members who could still move took care of the Princess and Alchemist, whose feet had become heavy, and dodged to the side.

Carried by Count Alpha, Serena frantically racked her brain.

‘Why? Why isn’t the magic working? Is this a place where magic can’t be used?’

Though they failed to land the first strike, the Party didn’t give up. A magic arrow shot by the Archer lodged in the Minotaur’s nose bridge.

The Minotaur roughly shook its head to shake off the cold arrow, then let out a low bellow.

Moooooo-.

Bars opened, and a Goblin party entered the arena with vile laughter, stepping on the sand.

That wasn’t the end. Every time the bull-headed monster let out a low bellow, bars opened and more monsters were added.

The Party fought desperately but couldn’t withstand the numerical disadvantage and was defeated.

“Why won’t the lightning fall!”

Other magic worked fine, but only her signature lightning wouldn’t cast.

Even facing the Labyrinth God, Serena couldn’t contain her frustration and waved her hands.

“My mana control was perfect! The spell was fine too! I did everything, so why won’t lightning fall from the sky! Ah?”

The Labyrinth God, who had been watching the Princess’s struggle, smiled with satisfaction. It was an attitude showing he found Serena endearing for finding the answer herself.

Serena, for her part, trembled with fear as she questioned herself.

“Don’t tell me. The lightning couldn’t cast because the ceiling was blocked?”

The Princess’s lightning magic was being swept away by mental imagery. If she couldn’t control that, the lightning would someday fall on the Princess herself.

The Old Man’s curse-like prophecy had become reality.

Serena covered her face while resenting everything in the world.

“How does it make sense that magic won’t cast just because the ceiling is blocked!”

But that had actually happened.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————