Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 341

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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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341. Escape in the Darkness

A cell with one night left before execution.

The atmosphere was dark enough to understand why death row inmates aren’t told their execution date in advance.

“This can’t be happening… Someone will definitely come to rescue us before dawn.”

Though his words carried hope as always, the young boy’s face was filled with anxiety and fear.

Unable to sleep, his eyes were sunken and his nerves on edge, making him jump and overreact to the slightest sound.

Muttering quietly to himself in sounds too low for Serena to hear, Ralph turned his bloodshot eyes toward Serena.

“Princess. You have a plan, don’t you? Right? Is it something I can’t know in advance? Can’t you tell me just a little?”

“Count Ralph…”

Though Serena had no plan at all, Ralph’s blind faith had solidified after the incident in the visitation room.

Beyond blind faith, the knight who had begun to show fanaticism no longer displayed the pure trust that had once moved the princess.

‘They say the purer something is, the easier it becomes corrupted.’

When Ralph believed in her without any doubt, she felt crushed by responsibility. Now guilt weighed heavily on the princess’s shoulders and head.

When dawn came, it would all become nothing, but Serena would not forget.

Finding it painful to face the knight, Serena only stared at the empty wall. Ralph, unable to let go of his corrupted hope, kept staring at the door.

The prison lights had been turned off. Though bloodshot eyes without divine protection or magic security glasses couldn’t pierce through the darkness, Ralph kept his eyes wide open.

Then suddenly he opened his mouth, smiled, and grabbed the bars.

“You’ve come! I knew you would!”

‘Damn.’

Serena thought Ralph was seeing things from staring into the darkness.

But there really was a pale figure in the prison corridor shrouded in darkness.

Serena’s single eye, blessed by the High Priest of Darkness, could see what the blurred form was.

Her white marble-like skin seemed to blend with the darkness, making her boundaries unclear. Her bright blonde hair glowed golden even without a light source.

Her elegant features with classical beauty were distinct even in the darkness, and her characteristic black eyes were deeper and darker than the darkness that had settled in the corridor.

“Miss Ying! I’ve been waiting!”

Color returned to the knight’s face, which had been pale and bloodless all along. Ralph pushed aside the barred door he had already broken.

Ying didn’t enter the cell but pointed down the corridor.

“Going.”

The archer spoke only the essential words briefly and walked briskly down the dark corridor.

Serena and Ralph were surprised and went out into the corridor to pull the archer back into the cell.

“The patrol will come soon!”

“It’s dangerous if we’re caught!”

Even after bringing Ying into the cell, problems remained.

‘What if the guard sees Ying and calls us out?’

Then Ying would automatically return to her own cell, making her journey here worthless.

Even if she used her experience of arriving once to come back faster, it would be too late by then.

Clank clank.

Before she could think of a solution, the guard’s footsteps could be heard.

Serena panicked and picked up the mat.

“Just put this over yourself for now.”

“No.”

Ying refused to hide her body with the mat.

The Loyal Servant of Darkness gestured for the two to leave the cell with a more emotionless face than usual.

“The darkness will embrace us. It’s fine.”

Clang.

The guard came right up to the cell. Ralph, who was setting up the broken door, shouted urgently.

“They’re coming! Hide!”

The archer remained silent. Serena answered instead.

“No, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Serena’s orange eye gazed not at the mysterious blonde hair that was golden in the darkness despite the lack of light, but above the blonde hair.

Five yellow stars that shone brilliantly regardless of lighting proved that the archer’s words were not lies.

Clank clank.

Finally the guard reached the cell where the three were.

Both the barred door that had been removed from the wall and propped up at an angle, and the increased number of inmates, were within the guard’s line of sight.

Clank clank.

But the guard passed by the cell slowly as if seeing nothing.

The vision of a mere monster, not even a Floor Boss, couldn’t penetrate the sincerity of a High Priest who wasn’t hiding her power.

“Huh? Is it really okay?”

Ralph, who didn’t know Ying’s true identity, was simply confused. But concluding that good was good, he carefully moved the barred door aside.

“If we don’t get caught, can we just go out?”

“Stay close.”

The archer left a warning not to stray far from her and walked briskly down the corridor with her long legs.

Serena and Ralph picked up their bags and immediately followed the archer.

“Whoa, wait a moment. It’s too dark to see well.”

The prison with lights out was so dark that you couldn’t see an inch ahead.

Unless you were Ying, whose main job was as a priest of darkness, or Serena who received protection from such a person, it was scary to take even one step.

“May I use lighting?”

Ying narrowed her eyes and slowly shook her head. A slight reproach could be felt from her narrowed eyes.

‘Well, of course. It would be a bit much to rely on light while borrowing the power of darkness.’

But she couldn’t just leave the knight who couldn’t see in front of him and was waving his hands around.

Serena took Ralph’s hand as he groped through the air. The knight was slightly startled, then carefully held her hand as if it were something precious.

Seeing this, Ying quickened her pace. She walked so fast that she overtook the patrolling guard.

The guard didn’t notice that escaped prisoners were walking right in front of him, not behind him.

The power given by the Darkness of the Heavens was truly dazzling. No, wait. It was truly deep and dark.

For some reason, Ralph, who had successfully escaped from his cell just hours before execution, seemed purely happy.

Ralph rolled his bloodshot eyes, looking back and forth between the princess and the archer. Then he caught up with the fast-walking Ying. Ralph moved his lips.

May I speak?

The archer nodded.

“Quietly.”

They had to keep their voices down, but conversation was possible too. The protection of darkness was truly deep and dark.

Learning that conversation was possible, the princess and knight opened their mouths without hesitation.

“Ying. What’s going on?”

“Where are the others?”

“…”

Serena realized a fact she had overlooked.

Even if conversation was possible, it was useless if the person who should answer kept their mouth shut!

Once Ying closed her mouth, she wouldn’t open it even if Grey threw a tantrum and showed his belly in front of her.

The knight, who knew the archer’s taciturn nature well, spoke to the princess instead.

“As expected, you had a plan, Princess! Did you also know that Miss Ying had such amazing abilities?”

The fanaticism that had subsided when Ying helped with the escape rose again in Ralph’s eyes.

Serena didn’t answer and pointed ahead. An iron gate where a guard was standing watch appeared.

“Shh.”

Ying put her index finger to her lips and gave her first warning to the group.

Serena and Ralph pressed their lips tightly shut, opened their eyes wide, and only nodded.

Ying gestured for the two to come closer, then carefully opened the door.

The guard didn’t notice that the door he was guarding right next to him was being opened.

A 5-star High Priest using her abilities seriously was a cheat allowed by the Heavens.

Of course, it wasn’t a real cheat, so it would be troublesome if they were caught. Ying opened the door just enough for the armored Ralph to pass through and gestured.

Serena moved nimbly through the gap in the opened door, and Ralph moved carefully so his armor wouldn’t scrape or bump against the door and make noise.

The three exited the West Wing and arrived at the South Wing. Ying walked toward a different corridor than the one they had taken to the visitation room and pointed to the cell with the destroyed barred door.

“There.”

Serena explained the situation for the knight who couldn’t see anything in the darkness.

“So you were imprisoned in that cell. Did you escape on your own to find us?”

“Didn’t you receive help from the others?”

Ralph asked again about the wellbeing of their other companions, but Ying didn’t answer and walked with long strides.

Arriving at the East Wing in the same manner as before, Serena first checked the cell where Olive had been imprisoned.

Olive’s cell was completely empty. There was no sign of people, nor any trace of the items Olive had possessed.

“Olive is… gone.”

“What? Olive is gone? What on earth happened? Ying! Please tell us what occurred!”

Ralph’s hands tensed with force. Serena also gradually hoped the archer would answer and made eye contact with Ying.

The archer who had been walking in consistent silence sighed and turned back when the princess and knight held hands and wouldn’t move from in front of the guide’s cell.

“She was executed.”

“What did you say?”

“What? Olive was executed? Su-surely you don’t mean she was sentenced to death?”

“Wasn’t Olive given a prison sentence? Suddenly execution?”

The expressionless face she had maintained since appearing from the darkness disappeared for the first time.

Ying frowned her eyebrows that seemed especially carefully carved by a sculptor.

“To be precise, that’s my speculation. I don’t know for certain either.”

The wrinkled forehead smoothed out again and her eyebrows returned to gentle arcs.

Ying stared at Serena and Ralph with deep, dark eyes.

“If you fail after attempting to escape a certain number of times, it’s death. I assume that’s the mechanic.”

“So you’re saying Olive attempted to escape, failed, and was executed?”

Ying walked ahead as if she would really leave them behind if they didn’t come this time.

The three left the East Wing and arrived at the Main Wing.

Since the Main Wing was different from the other buildings, they got slightly lost, but the three safely arrived at the Main Wing entrance. Very safely.

At the entrance, as Count Randy and Count Alpha had mentioned, there was a list of prisoners posted.

The names of Serena and Ralph, whose execution was scheduled in a few hours, were written there, and below them were Ying, sentenced to 7 years for assault, and Olive, a habitual thief.

The prisoner list didn’t end there. The names of Count Randy and Count Alpha were also on the list.

The names of Olive, the count, and Count Alpha had lines drawn through them horizontally, with stamps at the end of their names.

Execution completed.

Serena swallowed hard.

‘Count Randy and Count Alpha were also executed.’

Things had been fine until the visitation, so what could have happened to lead to this?

Ralph found it strange that the princess had frozen in front of the prisoner list.

“What’s wrong?”

“…It’s nothing.”

‘Thank goodness Ralph can’t see.’

It was truly fortunate that since the prison was in lights-out, the outside of the building was also dark like night to match the concept.

Ying, who like Serena wasn’t hindered by darkness, had read that a companion they had conquered the labyrinth with was executed, yet silently only looked at the main gate outside the building.

Serena also calmed down at this composure that didn’t forget the objective even when someone died.

‘Get it together, Serena. Since I have to die anyway, let’s focus on gathering information.’

Everything Serena saw, heard, and experienced until now and from now on would become clues for the next round.

Coming outside the Main Wing, Serena earnestly looked around the desolate wide outdoor space without a single blade of grass.

They thus arrived at the prison gate.

The guards standing in front of the gate couldn’t perceive the three wrapped in sacred darkness.

Serena, Ralph, and Ying boldly walked out through the prison gate.

Ying withdrew the darkness protecting the three. Immediately after, a new notification appeared in the world of Serena’s left eye that only she could see.

It was a notification that the escape had succeeded. Serena only looked at the word “success” and dismissed the notification.

“Phew.”

The guards remained indifferent even seeing escaped prisoners standing in front of the gate.

Serena cautiously stepped back into the prison. The guards didn’t move.

‘Since the escape succeeded, they won’t re-imprison us? Should I try going in a bit more?’

The Faithful Priest of Darkness called to Serena who was lingering near the gate.

“Let’s go.”

“What? We haven’t met Count Randy and Count Alpha. Are we leaving them behind?”

“Wait a moment. There’s something I need to confirm.”

Serena let go of the bewildered Ralph’s hand and ran to the Main Wing entrance.

The guards stationed throughout didn’t catch the escaping prisoner even seeing her run toward them.

While running to the Main Wing, the world suddenly brightened.

Lights-out had ended. As soon as the surroundings brightened, Ralph chased after the running Serena and succeeded in catching up.

“Princess! What’s wrong! It’s dangerous to go alone!”

“Huff huff, Count Ralph. We succeeded in escaping so we’re no longer sinners. Just a moment. Huff. There’s something I need to confirm, so go back to Ying.”

“What’s happening… Is what’s written there true?”

‘Damn it.’

Serena gasped for breath and pressed her forehead.

The young knight with healthy body and excellent 2.0 vision in both eyes seemed to clearly see the letters written on the bulletin board despite still being at a distance.

“Olive, Count Randy, and even Count Alpha. They were all executed? That can’t be right.”

Ralph denied the death of his companions posted on the bulletin board. His eyes full of confusion fixed on the princess.

“What? Princess. You know everything, don’t you? Don’t you?”

Serena avoided his gaze and bit her lips.

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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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