Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 41

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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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41. A Frog Got Caught in a Spider Web

Throughout the descent from the 2nd floor to the 5th floor, they fought spiders and hadn’t heard a single croak from a frog. But suddenly seeing a frog pop out, the party was greatly shocked.

“Usually they give hints before fighting! Why is a frog coming out, this is cheating!”

“Why isn’t it a spider! I’d rather have a Minotaur!”

Croak!

The frog leaped up with all its might. The companions who had been protesting the frog’s jumping skills as it leaped fearlessly toward the ceiling immediately came to their senses.

The Labyrinth Rat Leader’s landing point was right in the middle of the party.

Before being crushed by the frog, Ralph, Olive, and Ying scattered in different directions. The spider webs layered thickly in all directions hindered the group’s evasion.

“Ugh, these spider webs are so sticky!”

“Be careful!”

Thud! The landed frog licked its eyes with its tongue, then opened its mouth toward the nearest presence. Its long, blunt tongue shot out like a battering ram.

Olive, who had become the target, slightly moved her upper body to the side to dodge the tongue. Then the tongue curved and followed Olive. Olive succeeded in consecutive evasions while slashing the tongue with her dagger.

“Tch.”

The feel wasn’t enough. Olive clicked her tongue.

“There’s a lot of sticky stuff on the tongue so it doesn’t cut well! I need to cut deeper!”

Ralph swung his sword with all his might from behind the giant frog. This time the wound was also shallow.

“The body is the same! Some kind of mucus is protecting its body!”

“Hup.”

Ying threw her dagger with all her strength. The dagger hit the Labyrinth Giant Frog’s right eye.

Croaaak!

The Labyrinth Rat Leader, having its weakness that all creatures with eyes possess struck, stood on its hind legs and rubbed its face with its front paws. The dagger didn’t fall out but dug deeper into the eye.

“Now’s the time! Attack the belly! Knight, stab deep with your sword!”

“Yes!”

When Olive shouted “Now’s the time!” Ralph was already charging. The long sword of the Heuji Royal Family knight, whose master had changed from Lucas to Ralph, stabbed the Labyrinth Rat Leader’s belly.

Now he just needed to apply force and slice to widen the wound. The moment Ralph thought that, the sword shot upward.

“Knight! Let go!”

At Olive’s instruction, Ralph released the sword. It was the right choice. The Labyrinth Rat Leader put strength into its hind legs and leaped up to stick to the ceiling. If he hadn’t let go of the sword, he would have fallen midway or been crushed and seriously injured.

Croak.

“Wow, the ceiling is high.”

They hadn’t been able to grasp the ceiling’s height because spider webs were draped like curtains, but the leader’s chamber ceiling was about the height of a three-story building.

“It’s annoying when it attacks from above. The tongue won’t reach down here, right?”

“I’m not sure.”

Ralph, who had lost his main weapon to the frog, raised his shield in preparation for tongue attacks that might pour down from above.

When the frog opened its mouth, its tongue came down. However, the distance was insufficient to reach the party that was prepared in the corner.

The frog seemed disappointed as it smacked its big mouth.

“Ah, that thing. How do we attack it?”

“What about the Princess’s magic?”

“If we unnecessarily draw aggro to the Princess and get crushed to death by the frog, the Countess would really be happy.”

“I’m sorry.”

As Olive and Ralph were troubled by their inability to attack, Ying naturally stepped forward in front of the two and brought her fingers to her quiver.

“…”

Realizing the quiver was completely empty, she looked back at the group with sad eyes like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

“I’ll pray for arrows to come out of the next treasure chest.”

“I will also pray earnestly.”

Croak. Croak. Croak croak. Croaaak!

A situation where their attacks couldn’t reach each other, and the longer time was dragged out with serious injuries, the more disadvantageous it was for the frog. The Labyrinth Rat Leader moved to escape this disadvantageous situation.

The Labyrinth Rat Leader puffed up its cheeks and croaked earnestly. It made as much noise alone as a chorus of toads in mating season. It was very noisy, but it wasn’t like a sonic attack.

“Don’t tell me it’s summoning subordinates?”

“Ugh. If only I had arrows.”

If only Ying had arrows, she would have made a pincushion out of that frog stuck to the ceiling and brought it down. Ying and Olive discussed throwing daggers, but this distance was also out of reach.

‘Are we going to be defeated like this?’

Serena observed all this scene carefully. Could it be that they were defeated by infinite summoning of subordinates and couldn’t return? Did they die from being hit by frogs?

‘An ice arrow would stick well.’

When Serena tried to use magic on the Labyrinth Rat Leader, somehow sensing the sign from afar, Olive glared at her. Serena gave up and stepped back.

‘What are they planning to do?’

Meanwhile, the Labyrinth Rat Leader’s song ended. It seemed the summoning preparation was complete.

Croaaak!

At the Labyrinth Rat Leader’s vigorous cry, subordinates answering the call came rushing from all over the leader’s chamber.

“Aaah! Spiders are swarming!”

“Exactly! Why does a frog come out and why are spiders the frog’s subordinates!”

What the Labyrinth Rat Leader summoned were small spiders that had been in charge of spinning webs. Though they didn’t know why the leader was a frog and the subordinates were spiders, the small spider swarm came out bustling like dust collected in a house neglected for 10 years.

Squeak!

Squeak squeak!

Squeeek-!

The party worked their feet hard to stomp the small spiders to death. The spider swarm didn’t care about the party’s attacks and climbed up the walls to the ceiling. Countless spiders gathered at one point.

“They’re going to the frog!”

“What are they trying to do?”

“Ugh. Arrows!”

Since they seemed to be preparing something, this was the chance to attack or interfere. If that many spider swarms wrapped the group in webs, they might be trapped and unable to get out.

‘Should I use ignition magic?’

When Serena tried to cast magic again, Olive, who noticed this time too, glared at her. Serena held back again.

‘I came to check why they couldn’t return, so it’s right for me not to interfere. Let me watch a little more.’

Because of the spiders clustered around the frog, the Labyrinth Rat Leader’s form couldn’t be seen. Looking at the disgusting spider cluster, Olive said.

“It would be refreshing to shoot one fire arrow there.”

When someone who wasn’t an archer said such things, what would a real archer feel? Ying again shot a gaze full of resentment and sadness like a cow just before being dragged to slaughter. There was some resignation mixed in.

Squeak squeak.

“It’s moving!”

The spiders that had been covering and wriggling over the frog scattered, revealing the frog’s form. The frog hopped down toward the party. The party scattered in different directions like before, preparing for the frog’s tongue attack, then were surprised.

“Crazy?”

“Spider webs?”

“This is insane.”

Serena, who had been watching, was also surprised. The frog’s eyes and belly – covering the injured parts with spider webs was understandable. It was an appropriate measure to prevent the wounds from opening further.

But what was that white, sturdy-looking line with excellent elasticity connecting the frog’s back to the ceiling?

The frog trusted the line and released its feet that had been gripping the ceiling. Then the frog fell due to gravity’s force, then was pulled back up to the ceiling by the elastic line.

Croak!

The frog tried hanging once and seemed to get the feel for it, putting strength into its hind legs and jumping from the ceiling.

“Aaah! It’s coming this way! Dodge!”

“Aaaaah!”

The frog hung from the line and swept through the group in unpredictable directions, then went back up to the ceiling and came down to strike the group. It repeated this quickly.

‘The frog is swinging!’

In Serena’s head, a children’s song from her previous life that she had sung to death when young began circling.

The innocent melody that marveled at the strong spider web that wouldn’t budge even if an elephant hung from it was now recreated in her reincarnated present.

A frog got caught in a spider web. It rode the swing merrily. So very fun. Good, good. La la la. It attacked other human friends.

It was something to see in a second lifetime. Seeing a frog ride a spider web swing.

Swoosh swoosh, to avoid the frog’s kicks, body slams, and tongue attacks as it moved freely across the leader’s chamber ceiling, the party ran without rest.

The spider web traps that kept grabbing their ankles ate away at their stamina.

“Arrows!”

“Please return my sword!”

“Aaah, so hectic! Ah, it stings!”

To make matters worse, half of the summoned subordinate spiders repaired and reinforced the webs holding the frogs, while the other half came down to the floor to create web traps to ensnare the party or bite them directly.

Though the spiders were small and their attacks could be ignored, the problem was the spiders targeting ears, nostrils, and mouths, or those attacking eyes and obstructing vision.

“Aah! So annoying!”

Thinking this was truly the time to step in, Serena pointed at herself with her finger. Olive firmly shook her head and looked for Ralph.

“Knight! Hold your position there!”

“What?”

Olive commanded Ralph. Though Ralph expressed confusion, he didn’t move an inch at the order to hold.

The Labyrinth Rat Leader hanging from the web launched a kick at Ralph. Ralph enlarged his shield and took a defensive stance. Shield and frog collided.

“Urgh.”

Though the Labyrinth Rat Leader was smaller than the Minotaur, its impact force rivaled the Minotaur’s thanks to gravity and acceleration buffs. Ralph proved he was a 3-star like Lucas by magnificently withstanding the frog’s swing.

Ribbit!

When its enjoyable swing was blocked, the frog croaked loudly and shook to resume swinging. Olive landed on the frog before the swing could grow larger. As the swing increased, Olive’s ponytail fluttered in the wind.

“Why not the spider!”

Olive raised the Minotaur horn weapon high and drove it down into the Labyrinth Rat Leader’s crown.

Ribbbbbbit!

The Minotaur’s hard, sharp horn penetrated the frog’s skull and pierced into its brain. The frog spread all its limbs wide before dying on the spot.

“You’ll hit the wall!”

Since the frog that had been enjoying its swing died, there was no one to control the force, so Olive would crash into the wall along with the frog.

“Don’t worry!”

Olive jumped down from the frog, performed several somersaults, and landed rolling on the floor covered with webs. It would have been Olympic gold medal material.

“Are you alright?”

“It’s nothing much. Ugh, slimy and sticky. What a mess.”

Olive irritably brushed off the frog slime and webs stuck to her body.

The party succeeded in defeating the Labyrinth Rat Leader, who served as both Floor Boss and Stratum Boss of Heuji’s Labyrinth 5th Floor.

‘We caught it well, didn’t we?’

There were no real problems. Though the frog swinging on webs was annoying, Olive’s performance led to a smooth victory. Serena slowly approached the party.

“Princess, be care. ful.”

“Yes. Be care. Eek!”

Ralph was startled and slapped the back of his neck with his palm.

Squeak!

A sound closer to a chicken than a chick was heard before stopping.

“What was that just now?”

“A spider bit me, but it’s fine. I caught it.”

When the leader disappeared, the subordinates summoned by the leader vanished like on the 1st Floor. It seemed to be making a last desperate attempt as it bit Ralph.

Ralph opened the palm that had struck his neck. A small, black spider lay dead with its belly burst.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes! It only stung a little!”

“Among the summoned spiders, there were some that bit quite painfully. I got bitten a lot too.”

Olive rolled up her clothes to show bite marks on her wrist. The bite marks were dotted like spots. Ying also silently rolled up her pants to show her bitten ankle.

Nibbled by rats on the 1st Floor and bitten by spiders on the 5th Floor. Conquering labyrinths was no easy task.

‘Really no big problems.’

Compared to the initial panic when the frog appeared and the renewed panic when the frog started swinging, the battle ended quite smoothly. Serena checked her coins with her left eye just in case.

[You have defeated a Stratum Boss. 1 Limited Coin has been awarded.]

[You have defeated a Floor Boss. 1 Shop 1 Coin has been awarded.]

‘The coins came in properly.’

To say Serena’s participation created variables, she had done nothing in this battle. She had only watched the fight from a safe zone.

‘Then did something happen after the battle ended?’

“Knight, well done! I really didn’t think you’d hold out. Excellent! Job!”

“What? What would you have done if I couldn’t hold out…?”

“Now, time for the exciting treasure hunt!”

“Miss Olive? If I couldn’t hold out…?”

“My dagger.”

Ying’s spare dagger and Ralph’s longsword were stuck in the frog’s body, dangling in mid-air.

“We need to get that thing down first.”

Olive used Ralph as a stepping stone to jump and land on the frog. Her movements were so light they rivaled the frog’s.

Olive examined the bundle of webs and informed the party below.

“This won’t work. This stuff is incredibly tough, hard, and sticky. Cutting it with a blade would damage the edge.”

“Then what do we do?”

“Should we try setting it on fire?”

“That’s dangerous.”

The space was originally layered with webs, and when the spiders were summoned, even more webs appeared. Using fire could spread to everything and endanger the party too.

“Hmm.”

Olive climbed down from the frog corpse caught in the webs and went deeper into the Leader’s Chamber. Behind the webs covering the walls like wallpaper, a door was visible.

“Since there’s nothing to burn, the fire shouldn’t be too severe. How about we go in here, close the door, and wait for the fire to die out?”

Serena thought it was too dangerous, but Ying and Ralph agreed with Olive’s opinion. Olive opened the door and the party went inside.

‘Is this how they died of suffocation?’

Serena wondered as she entered. Inside, a quite impressive-looking treasure chest was showing off its majesty, just like the one she’d seen in the Secret Room.

Behind the treasure chest, stairs leading downward were visible, but everyone’s gaze was fixed on the treasure chest.

“Oh, shiny box. Good.”

Ying spoke in a very earnest voice.

“Arrows.”

“Zero, are you crazy? Looking at a box that obviously contains good stuff and saying arrows? Arrows? Even if magic arrows came out, arrows are not okay!”

‘Did it fail because of infighting between Ying and Olive?’

Ying’s voice was so earnest that she thought they’d fight, but Ying easily backed down.

“Let’s see, let’s check it out~”

Olive hummed her self-composed song with lyrics and music both by Olive while examining the chest and its surroundings, then chuckled.

“Look at this guy?”

“What’s wrong?”

“This is a Mimic.”

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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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