Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 239

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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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239. Mola mola Returns

‘I thought it had been a while since I saw this guy’s face, and he’s dead again.’

He died like that on the 3rd Layer. Now he died again on the 10th Layer because it’s also a mountain. Just like Low is strong in mountainous terrain, is Sibling weak in mountainous terrain?

While giving in to maniacal laughter, Serena frantically racked her brain.

‘I’ve already decided what to ask the Minotaur God. If I die now…’

Thinking calmly, the regression point was quite far back. She had to go back to before the 2nd Group assault team entered the 4th Layer.

‘If I hurry entering the 10th Layer, I might be able to save him. When and how did he die?’

The legend of the mola mola that had terrified the Princess had returned. Serena’s magnanimity and blood vessels became petty, and her blood pressure shot up accordingly.

‘Even if I prepare for mountain climbing quickly. The mountain is the problem. I have to start over from the beginning without even stepping on the summit?’

Moreover, knowing the path on the 10th Layer doesn’t make exploration advantageous.

Thinking about having to climb the mountain from the beginning again, her will to die suddenly dropped. Serena slapped her own face to come to her senses.

“Your Highness!”

Count Alpha was greatly alarmed when the Grand Princess, who had been laughing maniacally, suddenly attempted self-harm. Just as the Imperial Knight was about to restrain the Grand Princess to prevent further self-harm, Count Randy shouted.

“Lady Serena! Lord Seraph is alive! All the other priests are alive too!”

“Your Highness, did you hear? The Grand Prince is safe. Please come to your senses!”

“I’ve come to my senses, so stop shaking me. I’m getting dizzy.”

Count Alpha was surprised in a different way seeing the Grand Princess, who had become perfectly fine as if she had never disheveled her hair and laughed maniacally. Serena tidied her disheveled hair and pressed down her hat.

“Are you really alright?”

“I was just so surprised that laughter came out. I’m fine now, so let’s go.”

Serena strode forward, leaving behind the wide-eyed Imperial Knight. When even the Archer approached asking if she was okay, she nodded.

‘It’s fortunate they’re alive. But why were they all collapsed?’

As they approached the mountain lodge, Low was carrying the people who had collapsed inside the lodge outside. Count Randy was examining the collapsed people, and Duri was sniffing around looking for anything suspicious.

“How is everyone’s condition? What about Seraph?”

Serena first asked about her sibling’s condition. The face of her sibling, who had collapsed with eyes closed, looked pale. Even though she had heard he was still alive, he looked like a corpse.

“I gave them antidotes for now, but since time has passed since they collapsed, they’re all in a hypothermic state. Lady Serena, please warm Lord Seraph and the priests with your mana field.”

“Antidote?”

Though the Minotaur God hadn’t provided it, Serena accessed the ‘Mushroom Party’ section from the collection of her sibling’s death scenes in her own head.

‘These people died from eating mushrooms again!’

On the 10th Layer, there are ice mushrooms or snow mushrooms that become poisonous if not grilled quickly with strong heat.

While Serena was suspecting mushrooms, Low, who had been investigating inside the lodge, came out.

“It seems they forgot to ventilate after lighting the fire in the hearth. Everyone was sleeping so they just fainted, and that big priest over there probably woke up and opened the door.”

“Then is it safe inside the lodge?”

“Yes.”

“Count Alpha, Low. Lay the patients back in the lodge. Count Randy, please prepare more potions, and Ying will help me change their clothes. I’ll leave Seraph to the Count. Duri is.”

Serena was looking around for the giant teddy bear when Duri walked over from beside the lodge with whimpering sounds.

“Groan. Grooooan.”

“What’s wrong, why are you like that. Oh no, that’s a thorn, isn’t it? What did you touch wrong?”

“Grooooooan.”

Sharp thorns were stuck in Duri’s face. It was fortunate that Duri’s face was bear hide, because if it had been human, the thorns were large enough to be life-threatening. Duri pretended to touch something with her front paw and cried in pain again.

“A trap? You touched a trap? Damn. Do I need to look inside again?”

“It’s Seraph’s doing. There won’t be traps inside the lodge, so hurry and move the patients. Be careful around the windows and doors.”

Serena warned Duri, who was rubbing her face to pull out the thorns.

“Don’t pull them out carelessly and ask someone else to do it. They might not be ordinary thorns but ones that have hooks that pop out and embed when stuck in flesh.”

“Grooooooan.”

Duri cried pitifully while looking around for someone to pull out the thorns, but seeing everyone was busy, she stood on her hind legs only and waited her turn.

The Knight and Hunter moved the patients who had been laid in the snow back to the lodge, and Ying lit the fire in the hearth. Serena distributed spare body temperature control talismans to the patients and concentrated.

‘A mana field large enough to envelop everyone, with warmly controlled temperature. Focus, Serena. It’s not difficult since the mana field position is fixed.’

The problem was still maintaining the mana field for a long time. Since Serena, the caster, had to complete the magic and do other things, that part was difficult.

‘In times like this, drawing a magic circle would be effective. I should learn from the Viscount when I return.’

“What I desire is warmth like a fireplace area.”

‘What fireplace. Ondol! Electric blanket! Sauna!’

Though the incantation and mental image were slightly different, Serena successfully generated the mana field. When she put her hand in the mana field, it was toasty warm like having an electric blanket on under covers.

“I will change Lord Seraph’s clothes.”

Count Randy reached for Seraph’s subspace bag. Serena recalled her sibling’s temperament and stopped him.

“Given Seraph’s personality, there’s a possibility he set up anti-theft measures on his bag. Let’s dress him in the Count’s clothes for now.”

As could be seen from Olive, those most concerned about anti-theft measures are thieves. Because they think other people all have thoughts of stealing just like them.

It was a way of thinking ordinary people couldn’t understand, but what could be done. It was right to be cautious for now.

“We need to change these people’s clothes, so everyone turn around.”

Count Alpha and Low were dutifully about to stand facing the wall when they discovered Duri, with thorns hanging from her snout, trying to imitate them.

“We’ll go outside and treat Duri.”

“Take the tweezers.”

Count Randy handed over forceps in case the thorns were embedded in flesh and wouldn’t come out.

“Even with potions, you must thoroughly disinfect deep into the flesh! Duri, endure the pain!”

Duri seemed to prefer being treated by the Count or Princess rather than the two big men, sending wistful glances as she left the lodge.

Ying undressed High Priest Hazel and rubbed his entire body with a dry towel.

High Priest Hazel had collapsed by the door and was in the most serious condition, so she couldn’t take her hands off him. All the remaining priests were Serena’s responsibility.

Serena first undressed Rihua, who had the smallest build. The priest with white hair was as white as the snow outside all over her body.

Serena rubbed Rihua’s body, which looked like it would leave white powder if touched, just as Ying had done, and dressed her in new clothes.

Next was Muffin’s turn. Seeing the pink-haired girl collapsed with her eyes closed, she felt dizzy as the headless corpse buried in the lobby came to mind.

‘Should I tell them?’

Should she tell Muffin and Seraph about Shullen’s betrayal and death or not. Serena postponed this overwhelming dilemma for later and rubbed Muffin’s body.

Though she looked like a lovely girl far from fighting on the outside, the body the Princess touched was well-trained.

Finally, Knight Marin. The Knight of Fire wore a necklace for silent practice.

‘This reflected sleeping time too, right? Then I might be able to tell how long he was unconscious by looking at this?’

It didn’t seem likely that the talkative Knight had suddenly become devoted to silent practice. Serena checked the necklace and raised her eyebrows.

‘5. Not 5 hours but 5 days of silent practice? This Knight?’

If they had been collapsed for five days, they would have been discovered as frozen corpses, not just hypothermic. Serena was amazed that the Knight of Fire had been silent for a whole five days, then looked above his head and was even more surprised.

‘4 stars? One star increased.’

Originally, Knight Marin was a strong warrior with 3 yellow stars and 2 transparent stars, who could become a 5-star Knight at any time. Such Knight Marin’s stars had filled one more while she hadn’t seen him.

Serena wondered if her sibling had also grown and glanced at Seraph’s head. He was still 2 stars.

Anyway, the conclusion from combining the given information was this.

A luxurious party with two 5-stars, one 4-star, one 3-star and one 2-star almost got wiped out because they forgot to ventilate.

At this point, rather than thinking the labyrinth was scary, the thought that the party that almost died was pathetic came first.

Serena sighed and dressed Marin. Ying also judged that High Priest Hazel’s body temperature had returned, stopped rubbing, and dressed him.

“You can come in now.”

When the three big men came rushing in, the already narrow lodge seemed like it would burst.

“The space is narrow, so Duri, stay in human form. Is your injury okay?”

“Groan.”

Duri, who had returned to human form, tilted her innocently pure face toward the Princess even as a human. Serena confirmed that no scars remained on Duri’s innocent face and patted her head.

“It’s fortunate your eyes weren’t hurt. Couldn’t you notice because the trap smell was mixed with snow in your eyes?”

“Woof. Wooooof. Woof.”

Duri pointed at Seraph and Serena while sniffing. Roughly translated.

“The trap smelled like Seraph, but you let your guard down because Seraph’s smell is similar to mine?”

“Woof!”

Serena unconsciously smiled bitterly.

‘Still, being blood relatives. Do we smell similar?’

She didn’t feel bad, but she didn’t know why she smiled bitterly. Serena didn’t erase the bitter smile and gently patted the head of her sibling, who was as pretty as a sleeping prince in the forest.

“If we had been a little later, it would have been dangerous. We were lucky.”

‘He’s really pretty when he just keeps his mouth shut.’

When her sibling was born, Serena was two years old.

Crown Prince Kipan resolved that now that his second child was born, he would quit the drugs this time for sure, and he lasted a whole three days.

Crown Princess Melang seemed to be positively stimulated by giving birth to Seraph, as her lucid days increased. Instead, her aggression toward Serena intensified.

The Crown Princess suffered from delusions that her two-year-old daughter would harm not only herself but also her newborn son. Because the Crown Princess was overprotective of Seraph, Serena couldn’t see Seraph often when he was a newborn.

Still, she believed things would gradually improve. She expected they would get better little by little. She optimistically hoped and tried, thinking that when her sibling reached an age of reason, they could build a family that might not be happy but at least only slightly unhappy.

‘The foolish delusion of an idiot who thought being reincarnated automatically made her the protagonist.’

Isn’t it common? Stories of protagonists reincarnated as children of families on the brink of ruin, who heal their sick families with wit, effort, and love.

Serena tried in her own way too, but it didn’t work out well. The difficulty was too high to handle.

Her mother, who seemed to improve after her sibling’s birth, deteriorated again when her cousin returned alive, and the Crown Prince.

‘Thinking about it makes me furious, so let’s not think about it.’

Her sibling’s regular breathing quickened. Like a pretty flower waking from sleep, the flower trash was ready to bloom.

Still, blood is thicker than water. She was glad to have someone alive within reach, so she found herself unconsciously continuing to stroke her sibling’s head.

Since he would obviously wake up furious and throw a fit, Serena withdrew her hand.

‘He’s not waking up?’

Seraph didn’t wake up, but someone else opened their eyes instead.

“Ugh. Wa, water please…”

Knight Marin flailed her hands searching for water. The time displayed on her necklace had returned from 5 days back to 0.

That would be all the change others witnessed, but Serena’s eyes caught one more thing that had changed.

‘She’s back to 3-star!’

One of Marin’s stars that had been glowing yellow returned to a transparent star the moment the Knight woke up and opened her mouth.

‘Don’t tell me. If she keeps quiet, she stays at 5-star?’

Does the Fire Knight know that her rank fluctuates with every word she speaks?

Though it’s regrettable that 4-star became 3-star, what’s done is done.

“Have you come to your senses? The others are safe too and will wake up gradually. Please explain what happened.”

Knight Marin, who had emptied the water bottle in one go, opened her mouth.

“It’s about what happened when we reached the summit of the 10th Layer.”

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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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