The Two Who Met Again

The refreshing mountain air filled Lee Mina’s lungs.

It had been almost a month since she had used Dimensional Shift through the crack she had opened near Emma.

Following the very, very faint energy of Inho, she arrived at a place deep in the mountains, untouched by people.

“Look at this, Kkumul-ssi.”

Lee Mina’s finger pointed to a spot.

Long grass grew there, and her finger seemed to point at the grass, yet not quite.

At her words, her long shadow, born of moonlight, took shape and appeared.

Like a snake, the shadow slithered from Lee Mina’s shoulder, down her elbow and knee, and through her feet into the grass.

“Really, very, very faintly… Inho-ssi’s trail ends here.”

Lee Mina tilted her head.

“Isn’t it strange? There was no trace like this when I came last time…”

She traced Inho’s trail, analyzed the traces, and figured out which dimension he had moved to.

That was the Dimensional Shift ability that the goddess Nibir had given her.

She didn’t know everything about the concept of ‘dimension’ that the gods controlled, but she thought she had established her own concept through several Dimensional Shifts.

However, this case was a new one.

The Ancient shadow that had settled on the grass vibrated up and down.

Mina’s eyes widened as she watched it.

“At least ten years? Or maybe even older traces?”

Why hadn’t she found these traces last time, and why was she finding them now?

Mina’s head began to ache.

“Kkumul-ssi.”

Mina called out to the shadow.

-!!!

As if responding to her call, the shadow trembled.

“I thought I had caught up with Inho-ssi, but he’s getting further away again.”

Mina reached her hand towards the sky as if to grab the moon, and said forlornly.

“It feels like I can almost reach him, but I can’t.”

As if in pain, Mina covered her head with both hands and began to scratch with her nails.

-Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch.

The sound of nails tearing at skin filled the deep, empty mountains.

“Hoo…”

After messing up her hair for a while, Mina muttered with a refreshed face.

“It’s a relief, though. It seems like this is the place where Inho-ssi died… It will take a long time to analyze the traces since they were made a long time ago, but…”

Mina paused.

“Wait a minute…”

There was one strange thing.

“Why are there two places where he died?”

Clearly, when she came last time, she confirmed that Inho had died in Anhui.

But this time, it was quite a distance away.

What were the odds of moving to the same dimension again in countless dimensions?

“Because he died twice.”

The endless questions were cut off by a voice.

At the voice that came without any sign, Mina turned her body and retrieved the Ancient shadow.

-Bang!

A strong impact was felt on her right arm, and she flew into the air.

Soon, pain spread throughout her body.

“Ugh!”

If it hadn’t been for the ability of Namgoong Soyeon that she had absorbed here, she would have been crushed without even reacting properly.

Lee Mina crashed into the ground, smashing through several trees.

The Ancient shadow gathered in a circle at the spot where she fell, acting as a cushion.

“Hoo… Thanks, Kkumul-ssi, I lived thanks to you.”

As Mina greeted the shadow, the shadow moved its body up and down.

It meant to focus on the upcoming fight.

At the same time, the sound of air being torn apart was heard.

Like an arrow released from the string of a longbow, something swiftly flew towards her.

“Kkumul-ssi!”

With Mina’s cry, the Ancient shadow took shape.

A long Barbell and a heavy cluster of Barbell plates attached to the end.

Mina grabbed the end of the Barbell and swung the blunt weapon made of the rod and plates from top to bottom.

-Clang!

A clear sound rang out, dust rose, and a dull sensation was felt through the rod.

But an indescribable sense of unease did not disappear.

Clearly, the opponent would be fine, that was the unease.

“What a grotesque weapon.”

And that unease accurately predicted the situation.

The opponent’s foot was stuck in the middle of the rod.

The bent rod was crying pitifully.

“Oh no…! Kkumul-ssi!”

Mina, who was trying to retrieve the shadow to prepare for another attack, was grabbed by the neck and slammed into the ground.

“Kyaaak!!”

Even as she screamed from the impact running down her back, Lee Mina did not miss the opponent sitting on top of her.

In the deep mountains, where the dim moonlight shone.

The one who hunted her like a predator was looking down at her with eyes as red as blood.

-Hoo-oong!

The opponent who occupied her above pulled back his right fist.

A straight punch would be planted from top to bottom.

‘I have to avoid it…’

That’s what she thought, but the situation was not favorable.

The shadow was in the process of being retrieved, and her body was fixed and unable to move.

The best she could do was hope that the durability she had gained from absorbing people from various dimensions would withstand the attack.

Predicting the impact that would follow, Mina instinctively closed her eyes tightly.

-Bang!!!

A tremendous explosion struck her ears.

Her ears were ringing, but the pain she had expected did not come.

What is it? Did she get hit so hard that her brain overloaded?

“……”

After waiting for a while and nothing happened, Mina slowly opened her eyes.

The fist had fallen right next to her face.

“You’re Lee Mina, right?”

With red eyes flashing, the opponent slowly lowered his body and brought his face closer.

“I knew you would come again. If you were the one chasing Inho’s trail, I knew you would come here.”

“But how would I know when you would come? So I’ve been staying around here ever since you ran away.”

The opponent’s voice was full of annoyance.

“I don’t know what kind of magic it is, but you must be chasing Inho by some means.”

The opponent’s movement stopped at a distance where their breaths could touch.

Mina swallowed hard at the eyes that would make her legs tremble if she looked at them.

“Inho and I met twice. At first, I thought the Inho who had died had come back to life.”

“But it wasn’t. The Inho I met recently didn’t remember anything about me.”

“He may have lost his memory while resurrecting… but one thing came to mind.”

“When I first met Inho… Inho seemed to know me strangely.”

“I didn’t know why he was reacting like that at the time, but after sending Inho away twice and meeting you, I realized.”

“That the first meeting for me was the second meeting for Inho.”

“But there is something that cannot be explained even with the assumption of going back in time.”

“Inho definitely died. Twice.”

The opponent held up two fingers.

“With the knowledge I have, there is no way to explain this.”

-Bang!

“So you’re going to have to tell me everything.”

Once again, the fist fell next to Lee Mina.

“Everything you know.”

The Heavenly Demon bared his teeth at Lee Mina and growled.