Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 99

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

99. Dryad (2)

Buzzzzzzzz-.

One or two wasps at a time climbed up over the wall.

A new world had opened for the monsters who had never understood the concept of being above the wall.

The swarm of labyrinth wasps gathering, taking advantage of their ability to fly, looked like storm clouds.

The guide shouted for retreat with a pale face.

“Scatter! Princess, come with me!”

The party tried to disperse in panic but was blocked by the newly created plant wall.

The guide gave new instructions.

“Go down both sides! Split up!”

“No, then we’ll get stung to death by wasps while climbing the ladder. Everyone hold your breath for a moment!”

Count Randy took out a potion bottle he had stored in his belt, shook it, and threw it into the sky.

“Ying! Please!”

Ying shot an arrow without asking what the bottle was or what was inside it.

When the bottle shattered from the arrow hit, white smoke spread in all directions and settled down.

“Lady Serena! Blow the horn toward the leader’s chamber!”

Serena hurriedly blew the goblin summoning horn. Even though more than half her mana was consumed, she endured and just blew it, summoning a goblin rider mounted on a labyrinth chicken.

The goblin rider drove the labyrinth chicken to the edge of the wall following Serena’s command. The labyrinth chicken flapped its short wings frantically.

Cock-a-doodle-doo.

The labyrinth chicken jumped with all its might and burst out of the thick smoke surrounding them. The labyrinth chicken glided while scattering its feathers. The flag held by the goblin rider mounted on the chicken fluttered.

The labyrinth wasps saw the labyrinth chicken emerge from the smoke and chased after it without hesitation.

Serena’s party didn’t miss the opportunity and descended toward the central garden.

Not all the labyrinth wasps had chased the goblin rider, as several remained, so they had to use another smoke potion.

Serena was pulled along by Olive, who grabbed her wrist, and ran blindly as she was led.

Fortunately, since the 5th floor had a garden concept, the ground was flat and the grass was trimmed.

“Huff, huff.”

“Did we lose them?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Huff, cough, cough.”

When Serena’s lungs reached their limit, Olive stopped and assessed the situation.

Even though they seemed to have temporarily lost the labyrinth wasps, unlike before when they flew close to the ground, it was difficult to shake off the swarm of labyrinth wasps tracking the party from high above.

“Is there anywhere with a roof overhead? Count, how many smoke potions do you have left?”

“Huff. Cough.”

Count Randy’s lungs had also reached their limit, so he couldn’t answer verbally and held up his fingers instead. The count’s index finger was the only one raised.

“Why do you only have that much? Hey? You should have made a bunch.”

Though it wasn’t the count’s fault, Olive asked accusingly, perhaps irritated by the situation.

Count Randy drank the water Ralph handed him and caught his breath.

“I made five bottles. It seems Lord Seraph took two of them.”

“Damn it.”

The party all slapped their foreheads without exception.

Serena felt her neck getting hot and stiff, so she rubbed her nape.

‘That bastard Seraph. I can’t forgive him.’

Next time she met him, she would tie him up tight and hang him upside down from a tree.

Serena swore by the Labyrinth God.

Serena’s party urgently pressed themselves against the wall to hide and discussed what to do next.

“Is there anything else we can do? We need to find stairs and escape. Whether up or down, let’s go as soon as we find stairs.”

“Since the dryad is controlling the labyrinth wasps, how about we catch the dryad?”

“We don’t know where it is.”

“Ugh.”

“How about wiping out all the labyrinth wasps with the count’s attack potion?”

“I only have one fire attack potion left. I have other elemental attack potions remaining, so it might be possible if the labyrinth wasps gather together, but if even a small group remains, we’ll be surrounded.”

“Princess, can you summon goblins again?”

“A goblin rider was summoned, so my mana was greatly reduced. Additional summoning is impossible.”

“Ugh. My hope.”

Olive dropped her head in frustration.

“Ying. What do you think? Do you have any plans?”

Serena asked for the opinion of the servant of darkness who had foreseen this situation.

“…Run.”

“You don’t have a solution either.”

The party members, who had secretly had high expectations for the taciturn archer, were disappointed.

Perhaps sensing the mood even though her expression couldn’t be seen as she was pressed against the wall, the archer made an excuse.

“Should have caught it before being discovered.”

“It’s my fault. If I had shared information quickly without resting yesterday…”

“No, Lady Serena. The priests also didn’t mention encountering a dryad. We naturally thought we would have met one too. Even when exploring the same labyrinth, there can be differences in the information each party encounters, but it’s my fault for not checking thoroughly.”

“But it’s strange. In this state, the prince’s party that went ahead should have been chased similarly. But there are no such traces.”

It would have been natural for them to cry out for help since Serena’s party was nearby, or to flee toward the leader’s chamber, but Olive hadn’t seen any such traces.

“I attacked the dryad first. Could it be because of that?”

Although Muffin had delivered the finishing blow to the dryad’s remains, Serena was the one who attacked first.

“The princess threw the first punch? Oh my, you’re marked for sure.”

“I’m sorry.”

When Serena apologized, Ralph and Count Randy comforted her, saying it wasn’t the princess’s fault.

Anyway, the conclusion reached by the two labyrinth explorers was one.

Find the stairs as quickly as possible and retreat from the 5th floor.

“The wasps are flying high, so they can’t see us hiding like this and are passing by, right? I’ll quickly figure out the stair location and come back, so hide here and wait…”

Olive stopped while pulling herself out from the wall.

She was staring at something, so Serena just poked her head out to see what the guide was looking at.

A brush wolf, which spread throughout the labyrinth disguised as bushes or thickets to ambush passersby, was sniffing around with its nose pressed to the ground.

The nose that had been pressed to the ground gradually found direction, and the acorn-like eyes of the wolf met with the party hiding pressed against the wall.

The brush wolf immediately sat in place, stretched out its neck, and howled loudly.

Awoooooooo!

“Brush wolves could smell too? I really didn’t know this!”

Olive laughed helplessly, saying it was her first time seeing this as a labyrinth explorer, then became serious and shouted.

“Run! Don’t lose me!”

Olive ran like the wind. It was a speed befitting the nickname “Winds of the Wilderness.”

She had no intention of escaping alone, as she jogged in place at a crossroads waiting for the party to come.

“Hurry!”

At the crossroads where the guide was waiting for the party, a green-haired youth suddenly appeared.

“Beautiful lady. If you’re lost, I’ll help you. Kyaaaah! I’ll have revenge! Revenge!”

After appearing, he was beheaded by Olive and his head rolled on the ground while crying for revenge. Unfortunately, it was a fragment.

“If you’re going to come out, send out the main body!”

Since the dryad had grasped the party’s location, monsters would soon swarm them.

When Serena came close, Olive grabbed the princess’s wrist and sprinted.

Serena moved her legs with all her might to avoid falling.

Ying, who had been occasionally turning back to shoot arrows and check the monsters chasing them, warned the guide at the front.

“Path!”

“I know!”

The plant walls moved and the labyrinth’s paths changed.

Olive narrowly avoided the newly forming wall and changed direction.

Serena, who was running while being pulled by Olive’s grip on her wrist, was slow to change direction and half her body scraped against the wall.

Leaves and twigs roughly scratched the Princess’s body.

A sharp twig nearly pierced Serena’s eye. Fortunately, it was the eye covered by her eyepatch, so she avoided blindness.

Though it was a chilling situation, there was no time to be startled by such things. Even after changing direction, the Guide’s sprint didn’t stop.

“Sob sob sob, adventurer. Please help me.”

Buzzzzzz-.

Awoooooo!

Whether it was because this was the final section of the 5th Floor, or perhaps the Dryads had the ability to change the labyrinth’s structure, the maze’s paths kept changing continuously.

On top of that, swarms of Labyrinth Wasps began pursuing the party, and Brush Wolves and Dryads appeared whenever they caught their breath, threatening the party’s lungs.

In the end, the party barely escaped after using their last remaining smoke potion.

Serena and Count Randy collapsed from the pain of their lungs feeling like they would burst, while Ying, Olive, and Ralph wiped their sweat while keeping watch around them.

“They keep blocking the path to the stairs!”

Olive burst out in frustration. Serena had no energy to speak or think, enduring the pain of her heart about to explode.

“Huff, cough.”

As Serena breathed roughly, she heard the sound of the wasp swarm moving. They were getting closer.

“Princess. I’ll lure the wasps away, so please escape with the Count.”

Ralph volunteered to sacrifice himself and helped Serena up.

Serena tried to stand but her knees gave out and she pressed her hands to the ground.

‘Am I going to die being chased like this? Rather than dying from wasp stings, wouldn’t it be better to ask Ying to kill me?’

While Serena was in a daze, the buzzing sound of the wasp swarm grew closer.

Everyone was breathing roughly, waiting for death.

“Come this way!”

Among the deafening buzzing noise of the wasp swarm that seemed like it would make their ears go deaf or drive them insane, a human voice mixed in.

She wondered if a Dryad had come with the wasp swarm, but the voice came again.

“Hurry! Do you want to die?”

“Did only I just hear that?”

“I heard it too. It was a human voice.”

“It came from over there. But there’s no one there?”

The sound was very close, but there was nothing in the direction the voice came from.

Meanwhile, a Labyrinth Wasp acting as a scout approached the party.

The Labyrinth Wasp flew slowly around the area without attacking, as if searching for prey.

Then suddenly, a strong light flashed. Since it shone from behind the Labyrinth Wasp swarm, no monsters were blinded by the light, but the wasps were startled.

“That was magic just now, wasn’t it?”

“I felt mana.”

Serena detected the mana and looked in the direction where the mage who cast the spell was located.

It matched the direction the voice came from, but still, no one and nothing could be seen there.

Buzzzzzz.

Unable to identify the source of the light, the Labyrinth Wasps that had been multiplying became noisy.

Count Randy broke out in cold sweat and stood up, enduring the cramps in his legs.

“Lady Serena. We have nothing to lose, so we should go take a look.”

“I’ll stay behind and lure the wasps.”

Ralph tried to lure the wasps by noisily banging his shield.

“No. We’re going together.”

Even if returning would make it as if nothing happened, Serena didn’t want to erect a new tombstone in the lobby’s graveyard.

Even if it was a waste of space, she wanted the 10-person tomb to remain with 9 empty spots.

The party moved sideways like crabs toward the direction the voice came from while being wary of the Labyrinth Wasps.

Serena organized in her head what she needed to do if she returned.

‘Clear the 4th Layer exactly the same as this time, save on the 13th Floor, then just return home after completing the strategy. When clearing the 5th Layer, tell them about the party disbanding in advance, and start by hunting the Dryads first.’

Now that she had made a plan, it was time to die less painfully.

Just as Serena was about to ask Ying to kill her, someone suddenly pulled her.

“What! Mmph!”

Not only did they pull her, but they covered her mouth. Serena struggled and bit the hand covering her mouth.

“Ugh! Calm down! You need to be quiet and stay still! I’m trying to help.”

‘This voice is?’

It was the unidentified voice that had stood out alone among the wasp swarm’s chorus.

When Serena relaxed her jaw, the voice’s owner slowly withdrew his hand.

He elegantly shook his hand that bore bite marks from Serena. It seemed to hurt quite a bit.

“Be careful of the floor. It’ll be troublesome if the powder scatters.”

As Serena was about to fall, the voice’s owner pulled her close so she was pressed tightly against him. Serena lowered her head to look at the floor.

A small circle was drawn with white powder.

Serena’s gaze slowly moved from the floor upward to the man’s face.

Black hair as dark and lustrous as raven feathers, and mysterious blue-gray eyes that seemed to hold starlight.

Distinct features that looked better in person than in portraits, and an attractive voice that wasn’t low enough yet but was destined to become lower.

Serena recognized the voice’s owner at a glance. She couldn’t help but know.

After all, the voice’s owner was someone who had been a strong candidate for Serena’s husband, and the Empire’s 5th Prince, Willow Paine Astra.

Prince Willow gazed at the wasp swarm with his beautiful blue-gray eyes, like navy silk sprinkled with stardust, filled with deep concern.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————