Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 240

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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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240. This is about when we reached the 10th Floor Summit

When asked why they were collapsed in the mountain hut, the summit suddenly came up out of nowhere.

‘You’re starting from there?’

“Since we’re talking about the summit, I can’t leave out the journey to reach it. Indeed, I should tell the story from the moment we arrived at the 10th Floor.”

“I want to hear about the summit first!”

Marine clicked her tongue shut.

“What a shame. The story of reaching the summit is also thrilling. When we arrived at the 10th Floor Summit, we encountered the 10th Floor’s formidable enemy while searching for the stairs to the next floor. Rather than encountering it, it would be more accurate to say we accidentally stepped on it. A snow-white snow snake was lying on the path to the stairs, and we accidentally stepped on its tail. The snow snake had no intention of fighting our party, but we attacked first, so we ended up in an avoidable battle. I find this quite regrettable. You might wonder how we failed to notice such a formidable monster. The snow snake is only the size of a small thread snake. Its white color is identical to snow, and its scales reflect light just like piled snow, so no one noticed it. It was everyone’s oversight. This snow snake, true to its name, wraps and protects its small, delicate body with snow to fight, and as a Knight who serves the hot flames, I attacked the snow snake more valiantly than anyone. Of course, I wasn’t the only valiant one. High Priest Hazel’s punches are as heavy as massive rocks with each strike, and Miss Muffin’s punches are fierce enough to shatter ice walls. With the combined attack of us three who had mastered the secrets of cooperation while conquering the labyrinth together, we expected we could easily defeat even the 10th Floor’s formidable enemy, but.”

‘Ugh! Why does she talk so much!’

I knew this Knight had abandoned her vow of silence before, but this time was excessive.

Once Knight Marine’s mouth opened, it wouldn’t close even when people around her signaled to stop talking.

‘How did she endure keeping quiet for 5 whole days?’

“Uh… Knight Marine? I’m sorry to interrupt, but when will you get to the main point?”

“The main point is coming soon. To find the snow snake’s body hidden in the snow, High Priest, Miss Muffin, and I struck the giant snow mass. Each time we hit it, chunks of the giant snow were carved out, but finding the small snake was no easy task.”

It was long. Far too long. Just as I was trembling with fear that Knight Marine’s words might fill 5,000 characters.

“Mmph.”

The girl with lovely pink hair, Muffin, woke up.

“Ugh, cold. Throat hurts. Sleepy…”

“Miss Muffin. Wake up. You can’t sleep.”

At this rate, we’d have to keep listening to Knight Marine’s explanation. Serena desperately called Muffin’s name, and Count Randy gave Muffin an antidote.

Muffin gulped down the medicine entering her mouth and opened her eyes.

“Princess? Is this a dream? Gasp! Am I alive?”

Muffin bolted upright. She was delighted to see Serena, then looked at Knight Marine speaking earnestly and was horrified.

“Knight Marine! What are you doing talking!”

“I was the first to wake up, so I had to explain.”

“You could have written it down! Ugh! The 5 days we waited are all wasted! What are you going to do! We have to wait again!”

“But the explanation…”

“Yes! That’s enough! Begin the vow of silence!”

Knight Marine made a displeased expression and pressed her lips tightly shut. People who had escaped the flood-like chatter sent silent applause to Muffin.

“Miss Muffin. What on earth happened that you all collapsed here?”

“Ugh. My last memory is sleeping after passing the night watch. Someone must have forgotten to ventilate.”

“It wasn’t from eating the wrong mushrooms?”

Serena still hadn’t dropped her suspicion about mushrooms. Muffin shook her head vigorously. Her hair that had been like fluffy cotton candy looked like cotton candy pressed down with spit after suffering in the labyrinth.

“It wasn’t mushrooms. We didn’t eat them because Count warned us they were dangerous. We ate strawberries whenever we saw them though. Ugh, could the strawberries have been poisonous?”

“Non-toxic strawberries. They’re fine.”

“Phew, that’s a relief. I ate a lot because I was craving fresh fruits and vegetables.”

The cause of the near-party wipeout in the snow-covered mountain hut was gas from the charcoal.

‘If it hadn’t been for High Priest Hazel, they would all be dead.’

The High Priest probably noticed the emergency belatedly and used his last strength to open the door before collapsing.

‘If we had been even a little later, they would all be dead.’

“Ugh. I almost died without even being able to rot. Thank you for saving us, Princess.”

As a priest of decay, Muffin wanted her corpse to decompose when she died. She didn’t want to become a frozen corpse or frozen undead.

“From what I hear, it seems you stayed in this mountain hut for several days. What was the reason?”

“Ugh, Knight Marine mentioned fighting a formidable enemy, right? We made a small mistake then…”

Muffin twisted her pink hair with her fingers and told the story briefly and concisely.

“We carelessly melted the snow with fire, and when we hit the melted snow, well. It turned to ice. The snow snake became an ice snake and blocked the stairs completely. We thought it might move aside with time, but it kept holding its ground.”

The stairs were blocked. This was serious information. Serena tried to relax the tension in her brow and continued listening.

“Ugh. But this snake wouldn’t budge no matter how long we waited. Finally, High Priest Hazel threw a punch to break it along with the ice, but it held firm! Even though High Priest’s punches aren’t ordinary punches!”

By this point, anyone who had passed through 10 floors of the labyrinth would have the same thought.

“Was it a labyrinth gimmick?”

“Yes. High Priest suspected the same. He said the method of forcibly smashing the ice seemed to be blocked.”

To immediately suspect it was a labyrinth gimmick when his punch strikes didn’t work. Serena became curious about the power of the Earth High Priest’s punches.

“Fortunately, the ice melted with fire. So we prepared lots of firewood and lit a fire, but a blizzard blew and extinguished it. That’s how Knight Marine ended up doing the vow of silence. We planned to wait exactly one week before trying again, but she couldn’t endure it!”

Muffin glared at the Knight with tears in her eyes. Knight Marine looked aggrieved and twitched her tightly sealed lips.

“I have a question while listening to the lady’s words.”

“I’m Muffin of House Baker. I unwillingly serve the deity of decay.”

Whether shocked by Muffin’s blasphemy, or perhaps having guessed when seeing Muffin’s pink hair but now having his emotions stirred by hearing the name directly, Count Alpha’s thick eyelashes trembled finely.

The Imperial Knight quickly composed his emotions and asked his question.

“I’m curious if there’s a connection between the ice snake blocking the stairs and Knight Marine’s vow of silence.”

Serena roughly guessed the situation from the star above her head, but others who couldn’t see the star would naturally be curious.

“Ugh. Well.”

Muffin glanced at Knight Marine, then squeezed her eyes shut.

“Since we would all be dead if Princess hadn’t saved us, I’ll tell you. This is a secret of the Fire Order, so please keep it secret.”

Knight Marine widened her eyes to protest, then bowed her head, seemingly agreeing that they would be dead without Serena’s party.

“The vow of silence necklace Knight Marine wears is actually a sealing device. Knight Marine is originally a Knight who moves according to the will of fire, but she talked too much and said things she shouldn’t have said. So the angry Fire deity personally bestowed the training necklace that seals Knight Marine’s power.”

Everyone who heard Muffin’s words made the same expression and looked at the Fire Knight.

Just how much did she talk to receive a sealing device from a deity?

‘She was originally 5-star.’

No wonder she was mysteriously aggressive for her apparent power level and had no doubt in her flames. She was a powerhouse comparable to High Priest Hazel or Muffin.

“You managed to conquer the 8th Floor well.”

“That’s why we went. Knight Marine’s flames suddenly became stronger on the 8th Floor.”

“It’s a secret because it would damage the Order and Knight’s honor. I’ll keep the secret too.”

When Count Alpha spoke seriously, the Archer who knew the virtue of silence and Low, who had started being shy and hadn’t said a word, nodded.

“You planned to melt the ice snake with Knight Marine’s sacred fire.”

“Ugh. Yes. We couldn’t find a good mountain hut at the summit, so we came down to this hut that’s good for long stays and were waiting. We almost died without even being able to rot, and the time we waited became meaningless.”

Muffin scrunched up her cute face, regretting the wasted 5 days. Knight Marine also clenched her fists in agony at the thought of not being able to speak for another 5 days.

“Urgh.”

High Priest Hazel, who had been in the most serious condition, groaned. Starting with the High Priest, Seraph and Rihua also regained consciousness.

As soon as Seraph saw his sister, he frowned his pretty face. His eyes were clear for someone who had just awakened from fainting.

“Ugh, why did you come here! Get lost!”

“Said the prince to his life savior.”

When Serena deliberately answered like reading a textbook, Seraph’s eyes intensified with frustration at being unable to retort. The flower trash seemed to have nothing to say and just fidgeted with his hair. The area he touched overlapped with where Serena had stroked while he was unconscious.

All the collapsed people had awakened. The two parties finished brief introductions and began sharing information.

“Physical attacks cannot break the snake’s ice. Fire is needed.”

High Priest Hazel, whose complexion was still poor as his body hadn’t fully recovered, spoke in a convincing low voice.

“Ugh. Do we have to wait another week?”

Muffin made a tearful face and drooped her shoulders. Knight Marine also seemed frustrated as she fingered the sealing necklace.

Low, who had made his already fierce face even fiercer due to shyness, whispered in Count Alpha’s ear.

“He says staying together for a week is dangerous. He suggests going to the summit tomorrow at dawn to confirm if the ice snake is blocking the stairs.”

Since there were people who had already been to the summit, Serena took out her magic map.

The mountain hut where both parties were located happened to be at a junction of three paths.

A safe but long path, a middle path, and a short but dangerous path. I was curious which of the three paths my brother and the priest party had chosen, but the information reflected on the map was a bit strange.

‘A straight line?’

My brother and the priests hadn’t chosen any of the three paths and had climbed straight to the summit in a direct route. Serena wondered how this was possible, then soon recalled the Earth High Priest’s abilities.

‘They made their own path! How nice!’

Low also seemed surprised seeing the map and whispered in Count Alpha’s ear again.

“Our side’s Guide wants to know how such a route was possible.”

“I am a servant of Earth. I requested a path from Earth.”

“He asks if divine magic wasn’t blocked since the mountain itself is a gimmick.”

“A shortcut isn’t necessarily comfortable just because it’s short. Fortunately, Earth’s blessing worked on this floor.”

“Miss Muffin. How did you conquer the 6th Floor? Wasn’t it very difficult?”

“Ugh. The sewers? It was really dirty and smelly. So I asked Decay for help.”

“The God of Decay?”

“Things are dirty when they rot halfway, but when they rot completely, they become clean. Everything rotted and was purified.”

I wanted to protest that she had basically cheated through the 6th Floor’s most important gimmick, but I held back.

‘When you think about it, it’s the same as using purification magic tools or spells.’

It’s just that the one who used divine magic happened to be a 5-star priest.

Serena distributed honey-preserved lemons and multivitamins to the malnourished priest and siblings.

“Woooong.”

Duri, just like she did with Philia, offered her snacks to Seraph. Another of Heuji Jeolmi’s beautiful faces had satisfied the bear’s aesthetic sense.

“Why does this one wear bear hide and make strange sounds? How suspicious.”

Seraph looked at the boy covered in bear hide with cold eyes, then completely ignored him.

Duri kept offering wild berries, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, but when ignored, she sadly cried while eating her snacks.

While the prince and priests were happily enjoying the sour taste of lemons, only Priest Rihua wasn’t eating and kept her head down.

I was worried she might be too sick to eat the lemon, when suddenly Priest Rihua started shedding tears.

“Sniff, I’m sorry. I fell asleep while on night watch.”

The culprit of the group suffocation incident had confessed.

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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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