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Kang In-ho wasn’t particularly bright, but it didn’t take him long to understand what Isis was saying.

He had the illusion that Isis’s face looked strangely sad as she looked at him.

Isis formed a gentle smile and cupped his cheeks with both hands.

“Isis?”

“Master.”

She was storing Kang In-ho’s image in her storage device from various angles.

Her hands slowly moved down his neck to his shoulders.

She tapped his shoulders a few times, then moved down his arms and clasped his hands.

She put strength into their clasped hands, subtly conveying a feeling that shouldn’t exist.

“……..”

Stroking the back of his hand with her thumb, Isis met his eyes.

He remained silent, understanding her feelings at least a little.

“I wanted to greet you in an environment twenty-three times more relaxed than this.”

Isis broke the silence, gauging his warmth without a word.

“I see. It was the exact opposite of what you wanted.”

“It was because it was me that I could respond so quickly.”

“Huh?”

It wasn’t said in a boastful tone. As if explaining something, Isis calmly continued.

“I can control my emotions better than the other women who are acquainted with Master.”

Isis placed her hand where a human heart would be.

“My ’emotions’ respect me, so they don’t show themselves very often.”

Of course, there are unpleasant emotions, but…

Isis rarely added words.

“Ah… is that so?”

What was she trying to say? Kang In-ho felt like he was wandering in a maze in this disjointed conversation.

“Everyone is pretending to be calm, but they are confused. I can tell by the rigidity of their muscles and the dilation of their pupils.”

Isis moved her eyes to the other women who were protesting in front of Gabriel. Following her gaze, Kang In-ho’s body also turned.

They were stepping forward in this situation, which had nothing to do with them, just because they had a brief connection with him.

Only now did Kang In-ho notice the scene.

“What have I been doing?”

He was so busy trying to get out of the situation that he realized he hadn’t properly understood the feelings of the people who had come here.

“They look confident, but they are nervous. They are facing those who subdued Lee Mina, whom they struggled against, in an instant. If they were human, they would be afraid.”

“Their feelings for Master are very deep. That’s why they are willing to face the ‘Absolute Being,’ even at the cost of their lives.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean they are suitable for Master. Absolutely not.

Isis added.

“I’m getting a little off topic. What I want to tell Master is not how great they are.”

“Ah, that’s not what you were talking about?”

Kang In-ho hurriedly asked, and Isis looked down at him for a moment with a subtle gaze.

Isis slowly shook her head.

“Not at all. I was saying that they are currently incapable of normal thought.”

“Ah… I guess so? Like you said, they’re out of their minds, and the Dimension Management God suddenly appeared.”

“Yes. Master was the same until just now.”

When the gray eyes looked at him, Kang In-ho closed his mouth.

“……..”

“Now, do you understand what the Dimension Management God meant?”

The six souls will return to their original dimension, and the Ancient shadow will disappear.

The six souls.

If Isis is excluded… Lee Mina is also included.

“Maybe we can save Mina…”

Kang In-ho looked at the indifferent Gabriel. Whether he felt his gaze or had been looking at him from the beginning, Gabriel met his eyes.

“……..”

Gabriel slowly nodded.

Kang In-ho, realizing what that meant, took a deep breath.

There was no certainty. It might be a lie.

Shouldn’t he just go back as is? He was told that he would be returned to his original dimension, so shouldn’t he be able to go home now?

His hands were sweating. His mouth was so dry that it was difficult to swallow. His legs trembled like thin trees, and it felt like his blood was drying up.

Was this the right thing to do?

Was he making another wrong move?

Had anything he had judged and executed ever gone well?

Shouldn’t he just make excuses that he was unwillingly caught up in this again… shouldn’t he just do what the Dimension Management God told him to do?

Kang In-ho repeatedly ran his tongue over his dry lips.

“Master.”

Isis called him.

“Huh? Uh…”

“You’re nervous.”

He looked down at their still clasped hands. His trembling must have been transmitted to Isis.

“Haha… I guess so.”

“Are you keeping it in your heart?”

“What?”

“What the Dimension Management God said to Master. ‘You are still stuck in defeatism, and you can only carry out your beliefs when your safety is secured.'”

“…No.”

“That’s a lie. Master is keeping it in his heart. Master is afraid of another failure.”

Isis smiled, raising the corners of her mouth.

It was perhaps the first time he had seen her smile.

“Master. It is natural to be afraid of failure. But Master has not only failed.”

“I have?”

She pointed to each person one by one with her finger.

Chunhyang, Kim Sung-ah, Maria, Namgung Soyou.

And finally, she pointed to herself.

“That’s right. Isn’t the proof right before your eyes? I trust you don’t consider these relationships to be failures.”

“……..”

“And now, the time has come for the sixth success.”

Isis released his hand. Then, she placed her hand on his shoulder and brought her mouth close to his ear.

“Actually, I don’t want to send Master. It’s a highly probable attempt to succeed, but there is also a probability of failure.”

Isis slowly lowered her hand and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Kang In-ho was in Isis’s arms.

“Isis?”

A mechanical sound was heard.

“However, my ’emotions’ tell me to help Master.”

Soon after, a loud noise erupted. His head was thrown back by the sudden acceleration.

“I cannot go to the destination with you, but I will escort you to the destination quickly and safely.”

A sense of speed was felt, and the scenery began to fold.

The figure of the restrained Lee Mina was getting closer and closer.

As if recognizing that prey had entered its territory, the black tentacles covered them.

“Evasive maneuvers.”

The engine roared loudly, and Isis dodged the incoming tentacles in various ways.

Kang In-ho’s head shook from side to side due to the inertia.

Isis avoided the shadow’s attacks by soaring into the air and diving steeply, among other methods.

Although parts of her body were damaged by attacks that she could not avoid, she steadily approached Lee Mina while perfectly maintaining Kang In-ho’s safety.

A wing flew off, part of an arm disappeared, and an ankle was blown away.

Nevertheless, Isis took Kang In-ho to Lee Mina.

“I wish you a safe return. Kang In-ho.”

“Isis… NB?”

Reaching a distance where she could not approach any further, Isis threw Kang In-ho forward.

Kang In-ho, floating in the air, flew into the swamp of black tentacles.

The tentacles raised both arms, as if cheering for the prey that was coming of its own accord.

And then, Isis took out the means she had hidden.

“Collapse field deployment.”

A blue light burst out, and the tentacles flew away at once.

As the black tentacles flew away, Lee Mina’s intact appearance, trapped in the swamp, was revealed as it was.

Kang In-ho gritted his teeth and reached out his hand, and was able to embrace Lee Mina’s body, which was lying as if dead.

The tentacles covered them again, and the angry tentacles’ attack pierced Isis’s waist.

Isis’s face, as she flew away, was full of a radiant smile.