The Small Difference That Brought About Something

Struck by the unexpected blow, Chunhyang plummeted to the ground.

Before her slender body could crash, tree trunks intertwined to catch her.

Even as she stood on solid ground once more, Chunhyang remained silent.

Slowly, she raised a hand and brushed her cheek. A thin, long cut was felt at her fingertips.

From the hairline fracture on her porcelain skin, blood trickled irregularly.

Chunhyang lifted her head to gaze at the one who had wounded her.

The emotionless face of Lee Mina was adorned with splatters of her noble blood.

The Plunderer’s tongue moved grotesquely, licking it off.

“Not a particularly impressive taste. Fishy.”

The black Plunderer spat out the words after savoring the taste.

Chunhyang was still silent.

She merely gauged the temperature of the blood flowing down her fingers.

Amidst the chaotic mountain, the black entity and the golden entity stood opposed.

Tree trunks writhed like serpents, hissing, and ancient trees with broken backs groaned with a dull sound.

The black Plunderer remained unperturbed, even as it absorbed the Killing intent of all nature.

In its eyes, Chunhyang was no different from the strong beings it had encountered while traversing dimensions.

Rulers of kingdoms? Transcendental beings? The end was the same for all those who had mocked it as weak.

The black entity was certain that the woman before it would meet the same fate.

“How dare you.”

It was Chunhyang who broke the long silence.

“You dare blemish the face I show to Young master?”

Her face, filled with rage, was contorted mercilessly.

Chunhyang, having closed the wound with sap from the grass, untied her firmly fastened coat strings.

As her loosened clothes opened, her movements became more free.

“Now, you will soon die…”

The black Plunderer, who had been about to calmly deliver her death, could not finish its sentence.

“Who permitted you to open your mouth?”

Hundreds of tree trunks shot into the air, binding the Plunderer’s mouth and body.

Like a giant snake’s hunting method, the tree trunks constricted the Plunderer’s body as if to choke the life out of it.

As Chunhyang’s eyes, devoid of laughter, shone with a golden light, the tree trunks slammed the Plunderer’s body to the ground.

As if a giant boulder had fallen, pits began to form one by one.

Explosions echoed through the mountain, and winged creatures and beasts alike fled to the villages, escaping the Mountain Lord’s wrath.

The cocoon made of trunks soared into the air, repeatedly falling to the ground.

“Kugh!”

The Plunderer cut through the trunks and emerged, but the trunks, which had already regenerated, once again bound her body.

The trunks, which had initially only constricted her body, gradually dug into her flesh and grasped her bones, as if representing the emotions of their master.

Ooze and blood began to flow from the crushed areas.

“The only one who can wound me is Young master.”

A voice as cold as the winter wind pierced the Plunderer’s ears.

“Shut uuuup!!”

Displeased by her arrogance, the Plunderer unleashed the massive being it had kept hidden within.

A heavy beast’s cry, the thing that stretched out from the Plunderer’s back, moved its maw and severed the tree trunks.

Chunhyang thought that if the lizards she had seen in the mountains grew larger, they would look like that.

Thump, thump, thump.

The mountain resounded with each step.

A massive black beast, easily surpassing the height of trees that had grown for hundreds of years, suddenly appeared.

With huge legs and a tail contrasting with its short arms, it had rough, bumpy skin.

The Plunderer thought. If she couldn’t use hypnosis on her opponent, she could respond with brute force.

The beast, dripping shadows like needles, charged straight at Chunhyang.

“What a truly vulgar ability.”

Chunhyang narrowed her eyes in disgust at the sight of it taking out the being it had swallowed.

In her eyes, every single one of the Plunderer’s abilities was low-class and undignified.

Regardless of her impressions, the destructive power of the charging black beast was considerable.

If she were to be hit head-on like this, even Chunhyang would not be able to guarantee her life.

“I see you believe that my hypnosis is the entirety of my power.”

Chunhyang picked up a fallen branch. Vines wrapped around the branch, following her hand.

The vines and branches intertwined to form a plausible Ring Sword, and Chunhyang grabbed the hilt and lowered her body slightly.

Regulating her breathing, she closed her eyes.

The approaching massive presence, the beast’s stench, the enemy’s Killing intent, and the presence of the one she loved, felt from afar, all could be felt.

Sharpening her senses, she gradually widened her range of perception, as if weaving it with vines.

She recalled the memory of when she had learned swordsmanship.

The memory felt faint, like scattered starlight, but her body remembered it clearly.

Ah, how long has it been?

The beast opened its maw and roared.

The wind pressure it created shook her skirt like swaying reeds.

“I do not know how many beings you have swallowed.”

A sticky black shadow fell to the ground.

Chunhyang, obscured by the beast’s maw, opened her closed eyes.

Golden light flickered in her pupils.

“But even if you combined all of that time, it would not be more than the time I have wielded a sword.”

A single swing.

With an upward slash flowing from below, the black beast’s body was split in two, sweeping across the ground.

“An early monsoon, it seems.”

Chunhyang, who had already transformed the Ring Sword into an umbrella, murmured as she avoided the rain.

The incident occurred due to a very small difference.

Lee Mina had met very few beings stronger than herself while traversing dimensions.

Having swallowed various beings little by little, Lee Mina had steadily grown stronger, and except for the beginning, she had never experienced a decline in power.

Although the struggle for dominance constantly occurred as many beings entered her inner self, as long as she did not excessively draw upon their power, she never lost control.

But now, it was different from usual.

The opponent was overwhelmingly strong, and Lee Mina had to draw upon the power of all the beings she had swallowed.

In order to resist Chunhyang, she had to constantly examine her inner self, and the eyes that looked at her cried out for control of the body.

Thanks to this, Lee Mina’s mind was pushed to its limit.

This was the very small difference.

Chunhyang was in a state of feverish excitement, to the point where she wondered if she had ever been this agitated in her life.

The fact that she had allowed an attack from an opponent she had greatly underestimated was humiliating, and her blood ran hot because she had even been wounded, when she should have been showing a clean face.

Moreover, the fact that the fight against a being of such a low level was taking so long was also a situation that was tarnishing her reputation.

This was the very small difference.

The spear thrown by Lee Mina, who was wavering in the struggle for dominance, did not have as much power as usual.

Chunhyang saw the wavering tip of the spear and decided to deflect it without catching it.

The spear flew, and its trajectory changed as it was deflected by Chunhyang’s swinging hand.

The tip of the refracted spear entered the gap in the roughly woven tree trunks. Inside the cocoon-shaped structure, there was something very important.

Crimson blood began to flow from the gap in the cocoon made of tree trunks.

Chunhyang rushed towards the cocoon and opened it with her hands.

“No!!”

A scream filled with terror echoed sharply through the mountain.

Athena, a 1st Class Dimension Management God, who was inspecting her dimension, took out her pager upon feeling a vibration from within her pocket.

The pager was vibrating fiercely with a violent noise.

“What…”

As a Dimension Management God, this had happened only a handful of times. She swallowed nervously at the unease coming from the unknown.

When she moved to the location of the call, other 1st Class Dimension Management Gods besides her were already gathered.

Athena approached a familiar face and asked.

“Loki, what’s going on?”

Loki looked at Athena’s heavily armed appearance and laughed as if he was fed up.

“Well, I don’t really know. Seeing as they’ve gathered all the 1st Class Dimension Management Gods… it’s probably a big deal, right?”

“I know that much.”

Athena snapped at Loki as if she was frustrated, but Loki simply smiled and did not answer.

Soon, a bright light was emanating from the ceiling of the hall where the 1st Class Dimension Management Gods were gathered.

Six wings.

Radiance pouring out.

A halo above its head.

The 1st Class Dimension Management Gods lowered their heads at the divinity that made those who saw it kneel.

“…Gabriel-nim.”

It was the appearance of a 0th Class Dimension Management God.

The being with its eyes covered by an eye patch looked down at the 1st Class Dimension Management Gods and said.

“An intruder has appeared in a Unique Dimension.”

It was a shocking delivery of information, contrasted by the calm tone.