Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 92

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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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92. Labyrinth Garden (3)

Muffin and Hazel had met first and were traveling together.

After safely reuniting with the two, Serena first asked about her sibling’s whereabouts.

“Do you know where Seraph is?”

“We heard screams a few times, but the distance gradually increased and we couldn’t hear them anymore.”

“It didn’t just get farther away. It suddenly cut off in the middle. Ugh, what if he got captured by monsters again like last time?”

“Just like how I met the priests, Seraph might have encountered my party and be traveling with them. How about we look for stairs going up or move while searching for traces? It would be good to leave markers for others along the way.”

At least when Serena entered the 5th Layer, Seraph was alive.

If she discovered her sibling’s corpse, she could just regress with peace of mind.

‘I should save at the 13th floor then.’

The divine statue she thought was randomly placed in the Labyrinth was actually God’s kind consideration for the future.

Serena regretted losing out by being unnecessarily suspicious.

“I’ll follow the Princess’s opinion.”

The priests agreed with Serena’s opinion and left markers.

Serena first took out the magic map and organized the paths each person had wandered.

‘This place is quite spacious too.’

When the paths that five people had wandered were compiled onto one map, a considerably large-scale labyrinth was drawn on the map.

‘We wandered around quite a bit but couldn’t find stairs or a leader’s chamber.’

The five people who had been scattered and lost in the labyrinth gathered. Much of the map was filled, yet they still hadn’t discovered important facilities like stairs or a leader’s chamber.

“High Priest Hazel. Can’t you create stairs like in the 3rd Layer? It would be good to look around if we climbed over the walls.”

“I’m sorry, Princess. I tried as soon as I entered the 5th Layer, but it was impossible.”

“Since the walls are made of plants, how about grabbing onto them and climbing up?”

“I tried that, but the vines moved and tried to strangle my neck. Ugh, suddenly being choked was so scary.”

Muffin hugged herself and shivered.

“Is that so? That’s unfortunate.”

‘The Sword Masters just jumped up in one go though.’

Serena and the priests weren’t legendary Sword Masters, so they had no choice but to wander inside the labyrinth.

‘Where should we go?’

If it were Olive, she would point out locations where stairs might be expected based on past experience, but Serena had no such intuition.

Serena glanced at High Priest Hazel and Knight Marin, who had Labyrinth conquest experience.

They looked thoughtless. They seemed ready to follow if Serena decided on a direction.

“Who has been leading the way so far?”

“Seraph! He was really good at finding traps and treasure chests!”

So now that Seraph was absent, Serena had to take on the role of guide.

After much deliberation, Serena decided to try going straight in one direction.

While moving, they discovered a total of three types of monsters.

Brush Wolves that disguised themselves as bushes or walls to ambush the party.

Carnivorous Flowers that stuck to walls and couldn’t move around, but had excellent camouflage skills and were hard to kill.

Lastly, there were Labyrinth Wasps that absolutely should not be disturbed.

The Labyrinth Wasps were closer to traps than monsters, strictly speaking. They didn’t attack the group unless they approached or disturbed the beehives.

Of course, with wasps the size of pigeons flying around, no one except suicide seekers would deliberately disturb them.

The problem was that the beehives that shouldn’t be disturbed were mostly located in places they wanted to investigate.

Whether this placement was intentional or not, the beehives were attached above or beside treasure chests, or on walls that seemed likely to have secret doors or passages.

“It can’t be helped. Since there seems to be no path, we need to investigate near the beehives too.”

After walking through the labyrinth for what felt like over three hours, Serena suggested investigating near the beehives they had been deliberately avoiding.

“The wasps are scary. They’re fast and hard to hit.”

“There are many of them and they have poison stingers, so it will be very dangerous.”

“I’ll investigate the toxicity first.”

If they were going to face the Labyrinth Wasps, they needed to analyze the enemy’s capabilities first.

“Hup.”

Hazel threw a punch at a Labyrinth Wasp flying alone.

When the Labyrinth Wasp crashed, he extracted the poison stinger and examined the poison from the tip.

“The toxicity looks strong. It would be dangerous to approach the beehives.”

Even though individual Labyrinth Wasps were weak, wasps didn’t act alone but formed swarms.

Disturbing them under the pretense of investigating nearby was literally poking a hornet’s nest.

“What if we light a fire and use smoke to drive them away while fighting?”

“Even getting stung once would be dangerous.”

“I have one bottle of antidote. Combined with detoxification magic, couldn’t we handle about one beehive?”

At Serena’s opinion, all the priests except Rihua averted their gazes.

‘Why are they acting like this?’

When Serena looked puzzled, Priest Rihua rubbed her hands together and answered.

“Actually. The other priests besides me don’t know how to use healing miracles.”

“What do you mean? Muffin aside, the Priests of the Earth are famous for helping sick people with healing miracles.”

Didn’t Ralph always say that Priests of the Earth God frequently visited the village?

It was because priests who believed in the Earth traveled around the continent treating patients with healing magic.

They also taught farming methods or improved soil quality.

The religious order wasn’t strong enough to be adopted as a state religion by some countries for nothing.

“Ahem. The Earth highly valued my other talents.”

Hazel coughed awkwardly and showed his fist.

High Priest Hazel of the Earth wore leather gloves with studs. They looked like they would hurt a lot if hit.

“Knight Marin is. Hmm. I understand.”

Serena cut off her question midway to help Marin’s vow of silence.

Judging by the expression, this one also seemed to have been recognized for attack talent rather than healing.

‘What kind of priests are all martial artists? No wonder they died from a single poisonous mushroom.’

She wondered why they died from eating poisonous mushrooms when there were four priests.

Rihua, the only one who knew detoxification magic, had the smallest build so the poison spread first and she died, leading to total annihilation.

‘With only one healer, even 3-star rating is understandable.’

Anyway, since they couldn’t find stairs or doors by wandering around, they had to investigate the suspicious walls with beehives attached.

Eventually, they decided to try driving away the Labyrinth Wasps with smoke as Serena suggested.

Since being stung by poison stingers would be dangerous, Hazel enhanced his body with miracles and approached the beehive alone.

The Labyrinth Wasps didn’t easily abandon their hive even with smoke.

Sensing something suspicious, ten Labyrinth Wasps burst out of the beehive and attacked Hazel.

“Earth! Grant me your steadfastness!”

The poison stingers of the Labyrinth Wasps, dangerous just from being stabbed and even more dangerous due to their poison, rushed toward Hazel.

Ting!

Ting ting!

But the Labyrinth Wasps’ poison stingers couldn’t penetrate Hazel’s skin and bounced off with futile sounds.

Buzzzz-!

The Labyrinth Wasps even aimed for his face and near his eyes, but weak point attacks were the same.

Even with pigeon-sized wasps shooting poison stingers at his eyes, Hazel didn’t blink once. He trusted in the Earth’s protection bestowed upon him.

‘It would be great to attack now.’

The Earth’s protection was truly magnificent, but it had drawbacks too.

Attacking was impossible while defending.

Getting close to create smoke was fine, but the moment he attacked monsters, the defensive protection would break and become very dangerous.

If they attacked carelessly and drew the Labyrinth Wasps’ aggro, it would be troublesome, so they had to leave everything entirely to Hazel.

With wasps buzzing around his face, anyone would instinctively wave their hands to drive them away, but Hazel’s discipline in enduring and persevering was admirable.

‘He’s not a High Priest for nothing.’

Even with smoke, the Labyrinth Wasps wouldn’t abandon their hive.

They should have retreated, but Hazel continued approaching the beehive.

Hazel turned her head and opened her mouth slightly.

It was a lie.

Though it differed from the party’s original plan, she could predict what Hazel was trying to do.

Instead of stopping her, Serena envisioned a strong fire that would burn away all the noisy wings in the Labyrinth.

“Now!”

When Hazel set fire to the beehive, the wasps all attacked Hazel at once.

Serena didn’t miss that opportunity and chanted her spell.

“What I desire is flames that will blow away the swarm!”

The Princess cast a 4th-tier flame explosion magic centered on the High Priest. Intense flames formed around Hazel and then exploded with a loud sound.

The explosion was so powerful that fragments of Labyrinth Wasp corpses flew all the way to Serena, who was standing far away.

The Labyrinth Wasp corpses were well-cooked, with smoke rising from them. When Serena touched one, its crispy surface crumbled.

‘Is the High Priest alright?’

When the party first gathered, she had told the priests she could use 4th-tier ice explosion and flame explosion, feeling uncomfortable about lying to them.

‘I didn’t know I’d use it so soon.’

Her mana, already half-depleted from summoning goblins, consumed the remaining half when casting the 4th-tier magic, leaving about a quarter.

Thud. A hand suddenly landed on the Princess’s shoulder as she calculated her mana.

Startled, Serena pulled back and turned around to see Marine giving her a thumbs up.

“That was magnificent flames, Your Highness.”

“Thank you.”

‘You have no intention of keeping your vow of silence, do you?’

How could one maintain a vow of silence if they spoke whenever they felt like it?

Serena clicked her tongue inwardly while looking at Marine’s necklace, which had returned to zero again.

“Lady Serena, that was really amazing!”

“I’m not sure if High Priest Hazel is alright.”

“Of course he’s fine. Look.”

As Muffin boldly claimed, High Priest Hazel was perfectly fine.

His ochre priest robes and brown hair showed not a single trace of being singed by fire.

‘To take a direct hit from 4th-tier magic and be unharmed. Scary, so scary.’

“Thank you for understanding my intentions without prior discussion.”

“Not at all. Your signal was very appropriate, High Priest.”

This world had no puffed rice, the party had no gunpowder weapons, and there was no reason for the High Priest to suddenly lie, so the only thing that could go “pop” and explode was magic.

“If you’re injured anywhere, please let me know.”

“Priest Rihua. Don’t come close. It’s dangerous if the poison touches you.”

When Rihua tried to approach, Hazel quickly stopped her.

Looking again, Hazel’s clothes and body were soaked with poison from the wasp stings.

Serena used up all her remaining mana to help High Priest Hazel wash off the poison.

Hazel wrung out and shook his priest robes after rinsing them in water. His strength was so good that all the moisture was completely gone from the robes.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

“It’s nothing. However, this has exhausted my mana.”

“As Your Highness predicted, there seems to be a path behind the wall. Let’s just confirm that and then rest. Knight Marin?”

Marine struck the wall where the beehive was attached with her axe. The wall crumbled helplessly, revealing the hidden path.

“Lady Serena is good at finding paths too!”

“Don’t celebrate too early since it might not be a path.”

Did her words become prophetic? As Serena said, what emerged from behind the secret passage wasn’t a path but a clearing with a treasure chest.

“It’s a treasure chest with good rewards, Lady Serena!”

It was actually a magic-grade treasure chest, but perhaps because they had wandered the labyrinth for so long, she wasn’t pleased.

‘No. It might contain a magic tool that helps with finding paths.’

Serena corrected her negative thoughts and thought positively.

Maybe something like the magic lantern from the 4th Layer would come out?

Contrary to Serena’s expectations, the reward from the treasure chest was a water bottle. It was small in size but poured out infinite water.

“Ooh!”

“We really needed this!”

The priest party, who had suffered from water shortages throughout their Labyrinth conquest, cheered. Muffin jumped up and down with joy. Serena alone was consumed with anger.

‘I wasted my mana!’

Hazel sensed the Princess’s anger and comforted Serena.

“If it weren’t for Your Highness, I would have wasted the power granted by the Earth protecting myself from poison. Please don’t be angry, and let’s rest here.”

Serena sighed and agreed.

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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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