Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 271

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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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271. Divine Oracle

“Is everyone okay? Muffin!”

Muffin, who had the lightest injuries, tried to raise her upper body. Seraph rushed over like lightning to support Muffin.

“Ugh. My stomach hurts.”

“I have a little painkiller left.”

Count Randy picked up one of the medicine bottles laid out on the floor. Muffin, supported by Seraph as she raised her upper body, lifted her heavy hand.

“Ugh. I’m fine, I can bear it. Give it to the others, uweeek.”

Muffin grabbed onto Seraph and vomited. Seraph reflexively pushed Muffin away, then startled and grabbed her again.

“Hey! Ew, that’s disgusting. Are you okay now?”

“Cough cough.”

“Should I pat your back?”

The Prince, who had no experience nursing others, awkwardly patted Muffin’s back with his limited knowledge. Muffin, who had stopped vomiting and was coughing, whimpered.

“Ugh. It hurts because it’s echoing, so don’t do that.”

Muffin clutched her painful solar plexus and felt relieved seeing the High Priest and Knight who had regained consciousness. Serena dampened a handkerchief with water to clean Muffin and helped her change clothes.

Muffin’s abdomen had dark blue bruises. They looked so painful that Serena’s mouth twitched just looking at them, but they had used all the recovery potions treating High Priest Hazel and Knight Marin’s injuries, so there was no way to treat her now.

‘Bald Man needs to quickly regain his strength.’

The bruises occupying the small girl’s upper body would become more severe and darker with time.

The blue, red, and black bruises didn’t suit the noble lady with lovely pink hair.

“Cough. Lady Serena, just a moment. Cough hack, haaack.”

Though moving must have hurt, Muffin got up and went to where the trash was collected, then spat out phlegm. Seraph, who had been anxiously staying by Muffin’s side, widened his eyes seeing the phlegm.

“That’s blood! You spat out a blood clot!”

“Ugh, it’s nothing so don’t make a fuss.”

“How is it nothing when you’re bleeding!”

“I won’t die from this. Ugh, water or flowers would have been better after all. The Water Order is also famous for healing magic.”

Blasphemy that should never come from the mouth of a priest using divine magic spilled out. But now no one doubted Muffin’s faith.

The Priest of Corruption had proven before everyone’s eyes that she could fight powerful enemies prepared to die if her deity willed it.

“Hawk, ptui! Hah, flowers would be nice.”

‘Her grumbling seems genuine too.’

“Ugh. Earth, this pain too must be proof of life.”

“Gentle fire… Please forgive the sword’s rudeness and failure.”

“Both of you are alive.”

Survival itself deserved praise. Seraph felt relieved and perhaps overwhelmed with emotion, pursing his lips before turning away.

The Prince walked straight toward the stairs and suddenly began setting up traps. They were deadly traps that could kill anyone coming up the stairs in one blow.

“Is everyone safe?”

High Priest Hazel’s brown eyes moved here and there. The High Priest, counting the people remaining in the Leader’s Chamber, tried to get up hastily.

“What about Priest Rihua!”

“Hey! Your wound will open! Focus on healing!”

High Priest Hazel obediently put his back to the floor after hearing Bald Priest’s scolding. The High Priest of Earth closed his eyes tightly and let out a small sigh.

“I’m sorry. I was careless, trusting only in the power given by Earth. It’s all my fault.”

“It’s not the High Priest’s fault. I should have cut off his breath faster.”

“Bright fire. I was the sinner who was least helpful.”

“Knight Marin, just speak comfortably. You’re a patient so I’ll let it slide.”

“Ah, then first I want to express my gratitude to Baldy priest and Count who treated my wounds. Honestly, the moment my right hand separated from my body was fine, but when I heard they’d have to cut the severed section again, I was resigned thinking I’d never hold a sword or axe again for life. But now! I can vividly feel the sensation of my severed right hand. Not just the cut wrist, but the touch of my nails and fingertips is exactly the same as before my hand was severed. Ah, I should express gratitude not only to you two but also to Count Alpha who readily cut the severed section! And I clearly remember the attractive lady with beautiful hair saying I was cool, so when we leave the labyrinth let’s have tea together! Uurp!”

“I said speak comfortably, not chatter away.”

“You’ll use up all your energy talking. Keep your mouth shut and focus on healing!”

Muffin stuffed a handkerchief into the Talkative Knight’s mouth.

Perhaps thinking this was too harsh for a patient, the handkerchief changed to candy (vending machine product). Knight Marin allocated one piece of hard candy to each cheek and sucked on them.

“Knight of Fire, I like alcohol.”

“Me too, I like it.”

Olive, who had found an opportunity, sat next to Knight Marin and began flirting. It would be a sight that would greatly sadden the Sol Brothers if they saw it.

Count Alpha, perhaps concerned about the Knight’s body parts he had additionally severed, subtly squeezed between the two.

“Can you really feel sensation well? Is there anywhere uncomfortable?”

“Yeah. I feel really good.”

Knight Marin shook the area wrapped tightly in bandages and wiggled his fingers and toes. Count Alpha let out a sigh of relief like someone who had cast off a great burden.

Contrary to the Imperial Knight’s serious concerns, Knight Marin wasn’t worried about High Priest Hazel’s injuries that he had cauterized. He seemed confident they had attached well.

‘Count Alpha cut with an axe, while Knight Marin used power received from his deity.’

The High Priest of Earth, having heard about the aftereffects hidden in a Sword Master’s sword energy, expressed gratitude to the Fire Knight.

“That I can live and feel pain is thanks to Knight Marin. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“That’s not true. You must have received divine punishment for unsealing the seal on your own.”

Knight Marin just smiled brightly without words. He should have looked cool, but it was funny with candy in both cheeks.

Serena, judging that the three’s condition had stabilized considerably, brought up the main topic.

“Now it’s time to reveal the contents of the divine oracles each of you received. If there’s any other important information you know, please share it.”

The priests closed their mouths as if they had made a promise. An awkward silence lingered.

“Ugh. I’ll speak first.”

Muffin, who had the lightest injuries and had interacted with Serena, was the first to speak up.

“I remember what Miss Muffin said about the oracle. She said it was frightening content.”

“Yes. It was a frightening and terrible oracle that innocent and pitiful me couldn’t handle.”

“Innocent? Pitiful?”

The Prince, who had been setting traps to hide his tears, had somehow approached and expressed doubt. Muffin glared at her potential fiancé and shrank her shoulders.

“Duke Oren. He commanded me to rot the limbs of the traitorous rebel.”

Speaking it aloud seemed to make it feel more terrible, as the pink-haired girl furrowed her brow.

“When I received the oracle, it was before Duke Oren had caused such trouble. When Lord Seraph brought news of His Majesty the King’s…”

Sigh. Muffin seemed to find it difficult to say that their country’s king’s head had been severed and the king’s grandson had brought the severed head, so she trailed off.

“When he announced His Majesty the King’s death, I shouldn’t have, but honestly I was a little relieved. He had committed a crime worthy of having his limbs rotted. But if you’re going to kill, just kill – what does it mean to rot the limbs? I kept thinking about it.”

The girl with particularly lovely hair spoke cruel words with a cute face. The Young Knight with excellent empathy scratched his own wrist for no reason.

“Should I cut off the limbs then inflict the punishment of watching the severed limbs rot before his eyes? If the limbs rot, the rotten blood would circulate through the whole body and he’d naturally die, so was it just to kill him painfully? I was pondering this when.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Seraph interrupted while Muffin was speaking. The Prince grumbled that he would have actively helped if he had known the oracle’s content, and Muffin looked at him as if he were pathetic.

“What priest would tell others about oracle content they don’t understand precisely? Anyway, so I was confused about this when I happened to hear Knight Marin’s oracle content.”

The Priest of Corruption naturally passed the baton to the Fire Knight. Knight Marin crushed the candy he had been rolling and melting in his mouth with his teeth and swallowed it.

“The Gentle Fire gave me two oracles. One was to help Huji’s child. And the other was to apply sacred fire to maintain the wounds of one whose limbs had rotted so they wouldn’t worsen.”

Anyone could tell it was an oracle made with Corruption’s oracle in mind. Knight Marin gritted his teeth in anguish.

“I’m truly sorry. If I had understood Fire’s will just a little more, I could have preserved my strength to help.”

Though his words were grand, he actually meant he was sorry for learning the trick of chattering under the guise of prayers too late.

‘That probably wasn’t Fire’s will.’

Serena watched the Knight fabricating Fire’s will and marveled at the sacred Fire’s magnanimity.

“Thanks to that, I understood the oracle too. Ah, it meant to rot only the limbs while keeping him alive.”

She had heard everything she needed to. Muffin quickly stuffed candy in Knight Marin’s mouth before he could say something else.

“Now it’s my turn to speak.”

High Priest Hazel rolled his eyes while lying flat and met the Princess’s hazel eyes.

“What the merciful Earth commanded me was to restrain Duke Oren so he wouldn’t make more mistakes. Find Duke Oren and restrain him. He also said to restrain him perfectly so he couldn’t harm himself. Sigh. I’m sorry. I thought it would be fine since Priest Muffin attacked his limbs. It was a complacent judgment. Who would have thought.”

High Priest Hazel closed his eyes tightly as if pained.

“I didn’t know the Sword Master would be so strong, and I never thought the royal that the great Light commanded Priest Rihua to help would be Duke Oren.”

Priest Rihua’s betrayal was something none of the party members had anticipated.

Even though they had nearly all lost their lives due to an internal traitor, there was no sign of resentment toward Priest Rihua on the priests’ faces.

Seraph bit his lips hard, suppressing his anger.

“Why did she betray us! Why! Why follow Richard of all people! I or Serena should have priority as Huji’s royalty!”

Serena had heard the content of the oracle Priest Rihua had received.

Help the royalty of Heuji. With only 4 living royals, one being a drug addict and another a patricidal murderer, he naturally understood it to mean helping one of the siblings.

‘But it was actually telling him to help Richard.’

“Don’t tell me you’ve been deceiving me and approaching me from the beginning?”

Anger led to wild accusations. The priests spoke in unison to suppress the Prince’s misunderstanding.

“That’s not it! It can’t be. Priest Rihua was a good person. Even Seraph knows that.”

“Priest Rihua also thought the royal the oracle pointed to was the Prince. The Light must have given new teachings to earthly servants who misinterpreted the oracle.”

Everyone, including Serena, guessed when the Light had given the new oracle. It was the moment Richard entered the Leader’s Chamber.

‘So that’s why she kept being confused. She was thrown into confusion by the content telling her to help Richard.’

The sight of her trembling like a rabbit caught in a trap was vivid in their minds. Who could have dared imagine that was her agonizing over whether to betray the party or not?

“That’s right, Prince. Since it was the deity’s will, Priest Rihua had no choice. The priest… kept crying.”

Priest Rihua, who had instantly healed Richard’s rotting limbs with amazing divine magic, didn’t follow after Richard left but stood there crying.

When Ralph also felt heartbroken and defended Priest Rihua, Olive shrugged her shoulders.

“Even if she cried boo-hoo. Betrayal is betrayal, right? We almost caught Duke Oren but he got all healed, right? The priests almost died, right? Duke Oren just left so we’re fine, but we almost died too, right? It’s betrayal, right?”

At the guide’s words facing reality, the priests made displeased expressions. Count Alpha agreed with Olive.

“I think exactly the same as Olive. Even if she followed the deity’s will, the Priest of Light’s betrayal was fatal. We mustn’t let our hearts weaken over personal matters.”

The Imperial Knight coldly worried about future matters.

“This is serious trouble. A powerful healer added to a strong enemy. The surprise attack failed too, so it’ll be much harder to face them from now on.”

Richard is powerful. It’s questionable whether even two parties combined could defeat him, and now a 5-star healer has been added. With even the surprise attack failed, how should they face him going forward?

Everyone’s faces darkened at the Imperial Knight’s analysis. Then the archer, who was adjusting the black bandages wrapped around his hands, muttered as if to himself.

“He won’t live long.”

“Who won’t live long?”

The sharp-eared guide asked so everyone could hear. The deep, dark, black gaze of the High Priest of Darkness turned toward the stairs.

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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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