Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 234

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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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234. Winter Mountain Climbing (1)

The entire party wore snowshoes. Even Serena, who could walk on snow with her magic shoes, put on snowshoes as a precaution.

Duri, who was leaving deep bear paw prints in the pure white snow, also wore snowshoes. They just weren’t visible since she had transformed into a bear.

“With snowshoes, it’s definitely easier to walk.”

Count Randy gave the snowshoes a perfect score of 10. Count Alpha, who had removed his trustworthy armor and wore fur clothing, glared around with a serious expression even though no monsters had appeared yet.

“I trust everyone has mastered the knot techniques.”

Low used the mountain region’s unique rope knotting method to secure ropes to everyone’s belts, connecting them as one.

“Sir Knight will untie this when participating in combat.”

It wasn’t just for combat. It was also needed when you slipped and fell off a cliff, striking a pose while telling your companions to ‘leave me and go.’

‘It would have been nice if I knew the structure of the climbing equipment I saw in my past life.’

There would be no need to master complex knot techniques if she could use the tools she’d seen in her previous life. Since she didn’t know their structure, she couldn’t ask the alchemist to make them.

Just in case, she had hoped the vending machine would sell them, but they never appeared.

Instead, a product Serena desperately wanted did appear. Especially one that would feel truly precious after conquering the 10th layer.

‘Cup ramen after mountain climbing is on the same level as cup ramen after swimming.’

Especially the taste of cup ramen after winter mountain climbing would be even more special, wouldn’t it?

Perhaps because of the cold. She hadn’t even started the real mountain climbing yet, but the cup ramen in her bag was already dancing before her eyes. Serena’s mouth watered.

“Then let’s start the mountain climb. Only step where I step.”

The party walked in single file. From the front: Low, Count Alpha, Serena, Count Randy, and Ying. Duri leisurely followed alongside the group.

Walking up the gentle slope, they quickly became short of breath. As Serena opened her mouth from exhaustion, Low shouted like a ghost.

“It’s cold! Breathe only through your nose!”

Serena clamped her mouth shut and breathed deeply in and out through her nose. Even with the cold-weather mask, the air entering through her nose was so cold it froze the inside of her nostrils.

She had thought her ears would feel lonely without the constantly chattering guide, but she was wrong. Rough breathing filled the silence left by Olive’s absence.

Low said they were moving along a hiking trail, but with the ground completely covered in snow, it was unclear if it really was a trail.

Was the only difference that the tree branches hitting their faces were less dense than off the trail?

Climbing the snow-covered uphill path in silence for what felt like over 30 minutes was torture. As Serena finally breathed through her mouth while following the procession, something white moved in front of her.

It was snow. Not snow piled on trees or nearby being scattered by wind. Just as Low had said it would snow once they started climbing, snowflakes began falling from the sky.

Serena forcibly expanded her chest that felt like it would burst. The sky she looked up at was clear. Fortunately, it wasn’t snowing heavily – just a sky that would drop a few snowflakes and stop.

Fine snow began falling, and they walked for what felt like another 20 minutes. A flat area appeared. It was a small clearing with a bench.

‘A rest area?’

Since they’d walked for what felt like an hour, it was about time for a rest area to appear. Now they could finally rest.

As Serena pulled down her cold-weather mask to drink water while dry heaving, Low said something terrible.

“The mountain entrance, I suppose. Now we’re starting!”

“What? Entrance? Then what have we been. Ugh. Cough cough. Climbing all this time? Haven’t we been walking for over an hour?”

“The path to enter the mountain is naturally uphill. And by my estimation, it’s been 10 minutes.”

‘How can that be!’

But she couldn’t argue, since in her past life too, after climbing a hill earnestly, there had indeed been a ticket office building claiming to be the mountain entrance.

Low seated the princess and alchemist, who were glaring at him silently from shortness of breath, on the bench.

The hunter untied the rope from his belt and examined other objects in the clearing – pictures attached to a large bulletin board.

Those pictures were a roughly drawn map. Perhaps to prevent people from getting lost and dying in the snowy mountain, it kindly marked hiking trails, several crossroads, and the summit location.

“It would have been nice if Olive had explored up to here before returning. Tsk. If it hadn’t been so cold, she would have at least scouted this far.”

Low expressed his regret while reflecting what he saw onto the magic map. Serena took exactly one sip of water and trembled with fear.

‘A labyrinth showing us the way! That means we can get lost even knowing the path!’

Mountains are like that originally. Even a mountain you visit every morning for exercise transforms into an unfamiliar space if you take just a slightly wrong path.

“Now. Looking at this map, there are roughly three paths. One is comfortable but takes a long time. One is the shortest but has many cliffs. The other is a moderate mix of both. I’ll take the first path.”

Low decided the route arbitrarily without even asking the princess’s opinion. Serena had no complaints, so she kept her mouth shut. She could guess why Low chose the easiest but longest path.

‘It’s because of me.’

The memory of conquering the 3rd layer felt as distant as if 100 episodes had passed, yet Serena was still holding back the group.

What could she do even if she didn’t like it? It wasn’t as if Serena was an overpowered character skilled in both literary and martial arts.

She had no choice but to try not to fall behind, at least on the easy path.

“Looking at the map, there are mountain huts at exactly one day’s travel distance apart. Since sleeping outdoors is dangerous, reaching a hut before sunset is our daily goal. It will be tough, but there’s no choice. I apologize, Princess.”

Low apologized in advance. The exquisite travel distance he mentioned was surely based on experienced climbers or labyrinth adventurers. He was warning Serena to prepare to die.

Serena filled her still-aching lungs with air to their fullest. Since refusing the golden path, she had always been prepared to die.

“This is no time to delay. Let’s depart.”

“If it gets really difficult, please let me know. Forcing yourself to climb is dangerous.”

After Low’s earnest entreaty ended, the party climbed the mountain in single file again. Since this was the real mountain now, the slope was steeper than before.

Thanks to the magic shoes, she couldn’t feel the rough terrain, but the incline was faithfully transmitted.

Serena’s ankles, knees, calves, and thighs protested, asking what kind of princess goes mountain climbing. Serena scolded them, saying she was climbing because she was a princess, and hit her thigh. It didn’t hurt because of all the layers of clothing.

‘I have to save 100,000 people! It would be troublesome even after death!’

More painful than her legs were her lungs and heart. Her heart beat fast and hard as if beating 100,000 times per second. Unable to endure it, Serena was about to hit her chest when Low suddenly stopped.

“Shh.”

Low lowered his posture and gave hand signals to the group to be quiet. The party also lowered their postures following Low and held their breath.

Serena tried to calm her breathing during this fortunately obtained rest time.

Thud thud. Though there was no wind, nearby tree branches shook and dropped accumulated snow. The snow-covered ground trembled, and a giant snowball could be seen rolling between the bare winter trees.

‘An avalanche?’

For an avalanche, the direction the snowball was rolling was strange. The group was climbing from bottom to top along the winding hiking trail, but the snowball was rolling from right to left.

“Groan.”

After the snowball came closer, Serena realized it wasn’t snow but a white creature.

A white wild boar with threatening white tusks protruding from its snout charged across the snowfield and crossed the hiking trail.

The white boar must have seen the group, yet it didn’t attack the party and moved away. Duri twitched her black nose, smelling the boar scent remaining in the air. The smell must have been appealing, as the bear licked her lips.

“It doesn’t attack first. Just as Low said.”

Count Alpha, who had been tensely enlarging his shield and gripping his axe handle, felt relieved. He had said that if combat was involved in this layer, the difficulty wouldn’t match, and Low’s words were correct.

“It will be dangerous if we encounter the same one multiple times. Let’s move quickly.”

Serena’s heart was still rapidly beating, but the short rest time was over. The princess gripped her magic staff firmly and moved her feet.

Uphill, downhill, uphill again. As they walked the winding hiking trail, Low lowered his posture again and gave hand signals.

As Serena was about to gladly take a rest, a strange scream reached her ears.

Aaaaaaaaaaah-!

A bizarre scream of unknown age and gender. Before the scream ended, Serena was certain. It was that guy again.

‘Damn chamois. It appeared again because it’s a mountain.’

Her blood pressure, already elevated from mountain climbing, shot up as if it would burst her blood vessels. Feeling stiffness in the back of her neck, Serena gripped her magic staff tightly and concentrated.

She planned to strike first before the labyrinth deer could follow the group around and cause trouble again.

Sensing the princess’s terrifying aura, Low waved his hand and pointed toward where the sound came from.

There was a chamois with white fur like the wild boar. Whether due to individual differences or layer differences, it was smaller than the labyrinth deer that had been a formidable enemy on the 3rd layer (though still larger than ordinary chamois), and looked somewhat pretty with its white fur.

The white deer didn’t come to fight despite seeing the party. The chamois wore an indifferent expression as it used its front hooves to clear snow and ate grass buried beneath. Its protruding fangs were impressive, as befitting a chamois.

‘It won’t chase us?’

Serena relaxed and let her shoulders drop. Her blood pressure must have gone down too, as the stiffness in her neck loosened.

They occasionally encountered white beasts afterward, but the monsters only stared blankly at the party without attacking.

If this was good news, there was also bad news.

The snowflakes that had been gently drifting one or two at a time gradually increased. The sun sets early in the mountains. Whether the party’s movement speed was much slower than expected, the hunter frequently looked up at the sky and clicked his tongue softly.

Indeed, it was getting darker. While she could somehow move her heavy feet, there was nothing Serena could do about her lungs and heart that felt like they would burst.

Just as she wondered if they’d have to do night climbing with everything pitch black before her eyes, Low took extreme measures.

“Sir Knight. Carry the princess on your back. I’ll carry Sir Knight’s and the princess’s luggage.”

She should have said it wasn’t necessary, but she was too out of breath to speak. Serena barely managed to get on his back with people’s help. Low tied Serena and the knight together with rope.

“There’s not much left to the mountain hut. Hang in there. If we stop, we die.”

With Serena on his back, the snowshoe-wearing feet sank into the snow by that much weight. Feeling ashamed, she muttered an apology, and Count Alpha answered seriously.

“I’ve been feeling that my lower body training has been lacking lately.”

“That’s right. Lower body strength is important.”

‘I must buy exercise equipment after conquering this layer.’

Serena made a firm resolution in her heart.

“We’re here.”

There are certain words in this world that you should never trust.

One is the numbers counted by fitness trainers. Even though fitness trainers aren’t regressors, they strangely repeat the same numbers multiple times when counting.

Serena had never received personal training so she didn’t know, but she’d heard friends curse about wanting to kill their trainers several times.

The other is “we’re almost there” from people you meet on mountains. Serena knew this well since she’d fallen for it before.

Low, who did both fitness and mountain climbing, was a master of lies. He kept saying they were almost there, just a little more to go, but no matter how much they walked, there was no end.

Count Alpha’s breathing, carrying Serena on his back, gradually became rougher. She offered to get down several times, but each time Count Alpha refused, saying it was better to keep moving than waste time. Serena gritted her teeth in guilt.

“This time we really are there. Look over there.”

Serena lifted her head with a glimmer of hope and widened her one remaining eye. This time it wasn’t a lie but the truth.

At the end of the hill where darkness had settled and snow was swirling, there was the mountain hut that was their destination. More precisely, one dark building was visible.

“Hueoeoeoeoeoek.”

Count Randy made a strange sound, which turned out to be a magic incantation. Though the pronunciation was odd, perhaps through the power of imagination, a ball of light was created that illuminated the dark object. It was a typical log cabin mountain hut, like something drawn in a picture.

As the group tried to hurry toward the mountain hut with joy, Low stopped them.

“I’ll check for safety first.”

Low searched for traps, and Duri used her bear nose to sniff out other dangerous elements. The hunter confirmed safety and signaled that it was okay to enter the mountain hut.

Low untied the ropes binding the Princess and Knight. Count Alpha politely set Serena down at the mountain hut entrance.

Serena threw away all dignity and collapsed at the mountain hut entrance. The Archer, who hadn’t said a word during the entire journey here, shrugged his shoulders, tucked the Princess under his arm, and entered the mountain hut.

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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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