Seven

With Isis’s help, I was able to throw myself into the black sea, and then the scenery changed.

It was a playground. There was a slide and a suspension bridge, and the ground was full of dirt, my childhood playground.

Not knowing what to do first, I sat on a bench.

Thump, thump.

There was a girl in the playground, which I thought would be empty.

She looked like an elementary school student, bouncing a rubber ball off the slide by herself.

It was like a kind of squash.

“Ah!”

The rubber ball rolled and stopped at my feet.

A girl, who seemed to be the owner of the ball, was running from over there.

I picked it up for a moment and handed it to the girl.

The girl, who was very polite, bent over and thanked me.

“Thank you!”

For some reason, the girl resembled Lee Mina.

Isis’s suicide charge, which was full of evasion and offense, happened in an instant from a third party’s point of view.

Before they could even turn around at the sudden roar from behind, a gray flash flew towards the restrained Lee Mina, and after intertwining with the shadows a few times, it was half-destroyed and flew away.

It was a short time even for those with superhuman senses, so the fact that Isis threw Kang In-ho at Lee Mina was known quite a bit later.

“Noooo!!!”

Namgung Soyou’s face crumbled in despair. She looked like she would rush at the wriggling shadow that was chewing on Kang In-ho right away.

Black flame surged from beneath her feet, and Namgung Soyou lifted her foot to leap towards Lee Mina.

“Stop it.”

Gabriel snapped his fingers, and the energy that had been surging from Namgung Soyou’s dantian dissipated at once.

The Rank 0 Dimension Management God looked at Namgung Soyou and the other women with his unique indifferent eyes. The shapes were all different, but the emotions contained in their faces were the same: despair.

Gabriel gave a shallow smile at the fact that those who had been fighting each other to the death showed such commonality.

“Are you telling me to stand still when my husband is in danger?”

Chunhyang said in a voice like the north wind and snow.

Her golden eyes were shining eerily, and she was unconsciously twitching her hand.

Reacting to Chunhyang’s gesture, the earth’s vassals revealed their fangs like seedlings.

“It’s a meaningless act. Stop it.”

Chunhyang could have extended her vines and bound their limbs at any moment, but Gabriel said calmly.

“Meaningless? You won’t know until you try.”

In fact, Chunhyang was annoyed by Gabriel’s reaction and was about to move her hand.

“Kang In-ho is not dead.”

Gabriel said as Chunhyang and the others began to emit their fierce energy.

“Of course! If Ahjussi dies, he’ll Dimensional Shift!”

The Magical Girl said as if she wouldn’t be fooled.

“That’s not what I mean. Kang In-ho’s soul is in this Unique Dimension.”

“Isn’t it possible that his soul could be enslaved by that black monster? We must rescue Saint!”

Maria stepped forward. She was ready to swing her greatsword and split the monster in half.

Gabriel continued his explanation in a slow, monotonous voice, like a civil servant dealing with a difficult customer.

“Kang In-ho went to see Lee Mina.”

“Went? Do you mean he moved to another place in this world?”

It was Namgung Soyou who pointed out the subtle word.

“If you mean physical distance, then no.”

“Then?”

The Heavenly Demon’s red eyes shone persistently,

“A place you can’t walk to.”

“I’m sorry, but can you please tell me quickly without beating around the bush?”

The Magical Girl’s mysterious eyes twinkled as if urging him.

“Kang In-ho will explore Lee Mina’s soul.”

“What?”

Namgung Soyou asked back at the answer that was far beyond common sense.

Gabriel slowly raised his hand and pointed to Lee Mina. It pulsated like a cocoon about to hatch.

“Do you have any idea how many souls are gathered in the monster over there?”

“A hundred? Or a hundred and twenty?”

The Magical Girl counted with her fingers, and Gabriel slowly shook his head.

“There are seventy souls with self-awareness, and three thousand eight hundred souls without self-awareness.”

“Lee Mina has been through about a hundred dimensions, and she has absorbed many souls there.”

“Then let me ask you a question. Can you distinguish which dimension each of those many souls belongs to?”

Everyone shook their heads at Gabriel’s question.

“In order to approach Lee Mina’s soul, it is necessary to leave only Lee Mina’s soul behind. But the other souls that the Ancient shadow has devoured are with Lee Mina, so we cannot capture her soul.”

“Inho is able to do that? To match nearly three thousand souls to each world?”

Namgung Soyou asked.

“He won’t be counting and classifying the souls himself. It’s just that the souls will be offset according to the traces of the dimensions he has passed through.”

“Offset?”

“Yes. The dimensions that Kang In-ho has passed through and the dimensions that Lee Mina has passed through are almost the same. Kang In-ho will distinguish his souls from that sea of black souls. Instinctively.”

That is what a noble soul who has accumulated experience… that is, ‘class’ can do.

“If he distinguishes the souls one by one, he will capture Lee Mina’s soul, and from then on, Kang In-ho will interfere with Lee Mina’s soul.”

“Interfering with the soul… does that mean exploring the memories of that soul?”

Chunhyang asked.

“As expected, you have considerable knowledge about souls. That’s right.”

“Um… is there a chance that Ahjussi won’t be able to come back?”

The Magical Girl asked.

“What do you think?”

“It, it seems dangerous…”

“All six souls will return to their original dimensions.”

“…Then that means we can’t be with Saint.”

Maria, who understood Gabriel’s words, muttered.

Maria pointed to Isis, who was sprawled out on the field.

“That woman over there has no soul. The six souls you mentioned are the souls of five women, including Saint. You said that all of them will return to their original dimensions… doesn’t that mean that Saint will also return to her original world, and we will also return to our original worlds?”

“Bullshit. That girl will go with me. I’ve decided that, so no one can interfere.”

“Ah, Ahjussi will be with me.”

“It is absurd to be separated from my husband.”

Everyone added words to Maria’s words.

As it became noisy again, Gabriel moved his feet and distanced himself from the mess.

She slowly walked towards Isis, who had been cut in half at the waist and sent flying.

Isis, who was heading towards a functional stop, was just looking at where Kang In-ho would be.

As Gabriel stood in front of her, a shadow fell over Isis’s face.

Gabriel took something out of his arms. It was a mass of light emitting a clear light.

She knelt down and brought the mass of light to Isis’s chest.

The light penetrated Isis’s cold body, and soon a humming mechanical sound came from Isis.

“Wh, what are you doing?”

Maria’s voice trembled.

Gabriel turned his body.

“Now there are seven souls here.”