Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 350

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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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350. Selecting Neighboring Residents

The young knight naturally held out a small hand mirror. Serena was flustered.

“Do you carry a mirror around?”

Ralph Hanson, 16 years old. It was an age when one would naturally be concerned about others’ gazes, so it wasn’t strange for Ralph to carry a mirror.

What was strange was the location.

‘Even so, carrying something as fragile as a mirror even during labyrinth exploration?’

Did the young knight actually care a lot about his appearance?

But if that were the case, she had never seen him looking in a mirror while conquering the labyrinth together.

‘Don’t tell me he’s being conscious because Ying called him stylish?’

If someone who goes around wrapped in black bandages acknowledged his style, she wanted to advise him to absolutely never try to be stylish.

Especially since Ralph thought the black shield with a lion’s head was cool.

Ralph smiled as brightly as a cloudless sky.

“Didn’t we save Hana and her siblings thanks to the mirror on the 7th Floor? I’ve been carrying it ever since.”

The knight carried the mirror not for style, but to save people.

Serena had no choice but to acknowledge what Ying had said.

‘Right. Ralph knows style. He’s a stylish knight.’

“I haven’t seen you using the mirror to check your surroundings though?”

“At first I tried to use it while moving around, but it’s dangerous, isn’t it? I believed the Princess would tell me when the mirror was needed.”

Warm, dazzling sunlight shone from the cloudless sky. It was so bright that Serena couldn’t look directly at the stylish knight.

“Is it now, perhaps? Is that what you mean?”

The knight’s eyes sparkled with anticipation at the possibility of saving someone.

Serena inwardly screamed like a vampire turning to ash under the summer sun.

‘Kyaaaah! I’m sorry for being a calculating adult!’

Suffering from the righteous boy’s faith, then finding salvation in that purity.

Humans were truly multifaceted creatures who couldn’t live alone.

Seeing the knight who carried a mirror to save people made her prior worries about what to do if the person imprisoned in the next cell was a villain seem pointless.

‘Right. Even if there really is a death row inmate, they should be judged by Heuji’s laws. I can’t let them die in this ridiculous prison. Dying here would be beyond unjust—it would be a dog’s death.’

Serena, moved by Ralph’s pure sense of justice, changed her mind.

‘I came here saying I’d save 100,000 people. How can I save them if I’m being picky about this and that?’

Above all, it wasn’t even confirmed yet that there was a person in the next cell.

Serena decided to check that first.

The Princess took the mirror and crawled toward the hole in the wall.

“You want to check the next cell—aha! You were concerned about the lines on the wall!”

She heard the sound of armor being removed behind her. Serena didn’t wait for Ralph and illuminated the cell with the mirror.

Thump thump thump thump.

Her heart beat rapidly with anxiety about the unknown. It would feel relieving if the mirror showed an empty cell with no one there.

Sadly, something was reflected in the mirror.

She could see what looked like a wooden staff.

Moving the mirror slightly, she could also see what appeared to be clothing.

The clothing moved slightly in rhythm with someone’s breathing.

‘Ugh. There really is someone there.’

It was confirmed that there was a person in the next cell.

Serena adjusted the mirror’s angle to see what kind of person it was. The mirror was small, so she had to move her body as well.

“Huff huff, Princess! Is there someone there?”

Ralph, who had removed his armor and crawled through the hole, asked breathlessly. The knight didn’t wait for the Princess’s answer and looked in the mirror, his eyes widening.

“It’s a person! A grandmother? Grandfather? Anyway, it’s an elderly person!”

“Hmm.”

Surprisingly, the person reflected in the small hand mirror was an old person. The mirror was small and the angle was awkward, so the face wasn’t clearly visible, but white hair could be seen.

‘Was that staff I saw first the old person’s belonging? Maybe it was a walking aid and wasn’t treated as a weapon?’

Serena frowned.

To think that someone so aged they needed a staff had committed murder or a similar crime in the labyrinth and been imprisoned.

Even knowing the labyrinth prison’s standards were unjust, it was hard to readily accept.

Serena slowly moved to get a better look at the old person reflected in the mirror.

It was fascinating how the visible cell was empty while an old person sat in the mirror’s world.

But suddenly the mirror went black. Serena unconsciously tapped the hand mirror with her finger. It was an influence from her previous life.

‘I remember things like this well.’

It was strange to call it muscle memory when her body had changed after reincarnation, yet it felt familiar in her hands.

Anyway, Serena backed away from the old person.

Seeing the screen(?) suddenly blocked, it seemed there was another person besides the old person in the cell, and that person had gotten close, making the mirror go black.

“There seems to be someone else besides the grandmother.”

“You think it’s a grandmother?”

“Ah, it looked like she was wearing a skirt.”

Ralph couldn’t bring himself to take the mirror from the Princess’s hand, so he earnestly turned his head this way and that to look in the mirror.

As Serena slowly backed away, she realized that the person who had approached the old person had a considerably large build.

Serena’s hand stopped as she was changing the mirror’s angle to check the face of the large figure.

Ralph, who had been sticking only his neck out from behind the Princess to avoid blocking her view, also froze.

A lizard. Where a human head should have been, there was a giant lizard head.

The black thing blocking the mirror wasn’t clothing but lizard hide.

Slurp. The lizard licked its snout with a long tongue.

“A giant lizard is attacking the grandmother! We need to save her quickly!”

Ralph screamed and jumped up and down in place.

“Princess! Quickly! We need to save her quickly!”

‘I thought there were only moving armors!’

Serena was equally anxious. She closed her eyes and checked the gacha window.

‘The person right in front of me!’

If someone else was selected when she was trying to pick the person right in front of her, it would be rigged odds.

‘Prove that this isn’t a rigged trash game!’

Serena hurled blasphemies while pressing the gacha button.

Nothing happened, but the Princess knew the answer.

“Count Ralph! Bring weapons!”

“Yes!”

Krom had left all the cell doors open. Since the situation was urgent, the knight opened the door and returned to the original cell. Serena also went out, then closed the cell door and opened it.

Grurk?

The cell visible through the closed barred door was empty, but when the door was opened, a lizardman covered in black scales appeared.

Opening and closing doors. It was the only presentation of this plain gacha that lacked flashy effects or addictive sound effects.

The old person wasn’t visible. They seemed to be hidden by the lizardman’s large build.

The fact that nearby monsters also came along when summoning a person was something she had learned when saving Hana.

Serena took advantage of the lizardman’s confusion to launch a preemptive strike.

There was no need to chant a spell. Tearing the magic paper around her neck was sufficient.

An electric arrow generated in mid-air flew toward the lizardman’s back.

The lizardman, who had been facing the old person, turned around and dodged the electric arrow. Despite its large build, it was quite agile.

Kyaak.

The lizardman looked at Serena, bared its teeth, and threatened her.

Before the monster could break through the door, the knight arrived with sword and shield.

“Over here!”

Ralph blocked Serena’s front and raised his voice to lure the lizardman.

The lizardman menacingly swished its thick tail, then stood on two legs and extended its now-free front paws.

“Stop. Me. Not. Enemy. Human. Speak.”

Surprisingly, the lizardman spoke.

Despite having a different oral structure that would make pronunciation difficult, it spoke human language well enough to convey meaning.

Not only that, it also conveyed its intention not to fight even though Serena had attacked first.

‘What’s this? Is it a monster’s scheme? Or does it really not want to fight?’

Considering that labyrinth monsters were stupid, the latter possibility was high, but she couldn’t let her guard down.

‘Even fake monsters in the labyrinth have learning abilities.’

How common were stories of floor bosses who encountered many people gradually gaining experience and becoming smarter, turning into impregnable powerhouses?

Originally, lizardmen were smart monsters – some tribes in certain regions were intelligent enough to interact with humans.

It was possible that this clever lizardman was lying to make humans lower their guard.

She didn’t need to look far – just at the dryad that had been a formidable enemy on the 5th floor.

If it had absorbed just the 5th Prince as fertilizer, it would have become noticeably more cunning, deceiving and tormenting people.

“What should we do?”

“Me. No fight. Talk. Do.”

“Princess, what are your orders?”

The problem was the naive knight. Ralph instantly lost his fighting spirit when the lizardman requested dialogue.

“Oh my.”

Krom, who returned after hearing the commotion, hid his body and waited for the princess’s instructions.

The black lizardman took a combat stance, having no intention of taking hits defensively. Though it had no weapons, judging by its size, hide, and scale condition, it was quite a formidable opponent.

Its thick tail was particularly threatening. One swing of that tail looked like it could cut Serena or Krom in half.

Serena, who had been gritting her teeth and glaring at the black lizardman, noticed something important.

‘The old man is gone. What happened? I definitely pressed the draw button.’

Since the monster threatening the old man had been moved to the same labyrinth, it shouldn’t have drawn someone else, yet the old man was nowhere to be seen in the cell.

‘What should I do?’

Serena chewed her lips nervously, then finally took a gamble.

“Fine! Let’s talk!”

She decided to respond to the lizardman’s request for dialogue.

“But first, there’s something I want to do! I’m not attacking, so stay put. If you can’t trust me, you can move away!”

Serena warned the lizardman in advance and took out her mirror to illuminate the cell.

Inside the cell, a disheveled old man was limping around, pacing back and forth.

What the princess and knight had thought was a walking stick was the old man’s prosthetic leg.

Serena let out a deep sigh.

She had definitely pressed the draw button with the intention of drawing the neighboring cell occupant right in front of her.

But the old man she wanted to draw wasn’t drawn, and instead the lizardman that had been blocking her path appeared.

This meant.

‘You can be drawn too!’

The black lizardman wasn’t a fake labyrinth monster, but a real lizardman.

Quite unluckily, it had been caught up in this incident and absorbed into the labyrinth.

‘I thought only humans could be drawn? What exactly are the criteria!’

When Serena illuminated the cell with her mirror, the black lizardman moved only one eye to look behind.

Discovering that the space behind him was completely empty, the lizardman forgot about defending himself and turned his entire body to check behind him.

His distressed emotions were conveyed just from seeing his back as he stared at the empty cell.

The restless lizardman raised his head and roared.

“Krarararararak! Gone! Gone!”

The lizardman roughly struck the cell floor with his weapon-like tail and glared at Serena and Ralph.

“Teacher! Stole! Thief!”

Hostility and anger filled the eyes of the lizardman who had been moving his front paws saying he had no intention of fighting.

“Teacher! Save!”

The lizardman burst out with fiery rage, breaking down the cell door and rushing out.

Above the enraged lizard’s head, three yellow stars, one transparent star, and one gray star shone brilliantly.

‘I should have checked above his head first! Damn my preconceptions!’

It was too late to regret now.

Crash!

The lizardman and Ralph with his shield collided. Ralph, who had lost his fighting spirit after seeing the lizardman’s behavior, called out to Serena in a desperate voice.

“Princess! It doesn’t seem to be a monster!”

“Wait! We didn’t steal your teacher!”

“Enemy! Enemy! Not teacher! Enemy!”

The lizardman swung his front paws as if he couldn’t see anything else. Just as the young knight was about to block the simple attack with his shield.

“Enemy!”

As if the simple front paw scratching attack was a feint, the lizardman grabbed the shield and tried to snatch it away.

“Ugh!”

Ralph barely noticed and managed to keep hold of his shield.

‘A lizardman using martial arts?’

The lizardman’s shield-snatching wasn’t an instinctive movement.

It showed the skill of someone who had pondered and trained to steal shields.

“It’s a misunderstanding! We have no intention of fighting either! As proof, I’m not using my sword!”

“Thief! Teacher! Give back!”

‘This won’t work. I can’t calm him down without the old man.’

Serena kept her distance to avoid being hit by the lizardman’s tail and closed her eyes. As soon as she saw the world through her left eye, she pressed the draw button.

Even after pressing the draw button and consuming a coin, the cell remained empty.

To bring someone from the same but different labyrinth required a specific procedure.

Serena entered the cell through the passage created when the lizardman broke the barred door, then came back out.

Seeing the princess take one step forward then one step back in this urgent situation, Krom wrinkled his brow as if witnessing something bizarre, then discovered what had been added to the cell and gaped.

“Oh my? A person appeared?”

The old man with the prosthetic leg seemed to have been wandering around the cell looking for the suddenly disappeared lizardman.

The old man’s eyes widened upon seeing Serena who had suddenly appeared.

There was no time to explain the detailed situation.

Serena pointed at the knight and lizardman fighting in the corridor.

“We’re not enemies, so stop them! Quickly!”

Ralph had been continuously pushed back by the lizardman’s fierce attacks and was now quite far away.

When Serena tried to support the old man, he refused the princess’s help and left the cell on his own.

His lips parted as if he was going to shout loudly to stop them.

‘The battle is intense – would shouting even be heard?’

How loud could an old man with a prosthetic leg shout anyway?

There was no way the old man’s frail voice would reach the ears of the two absorbed in combat.

Just as Serena was about to put strength in her lower abdomen to shout loudly, the old man took a deep breath. And released it.

“Kara, you fool!”

I’m not going to scold you, just listen to me!

From the mouth of the old man missing one leg burst forth a booming voice that echoed throughout the entire corridor.

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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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