Chapter 175: The Two Meet Again
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 175: The Two Meet Again
The crisp mountain air filled Lee Mina’s lungs.
It had been nearly a month since she had traveled through the dimensional rift she opened at Emma’s location.
Tracing the incredibly faint aura of In-ho, she had arrived deep in a mountain forest where no human footsteps reached.
"Look at this, Kkumuli."
Mina’s finger pointed toward a specific spot.
Long grass grew there; her finger seemed to point at the grass, yet at the same time, it felt as though she were pointing at something beyond it.
At her words, her long shadow, cast by the moonlight, began to take shape.
The shadow slithered like a snake, starting from Mina’s shoulder, passing her elbow and knee, and sliding through her feet toward the grass.
"It’s very, very faint... but In-ho’s trail ends here."
Mina tilted her head.
"Isn't it strange? There was no such trace when I came here last time..."
To trace In-ho’s scent, analyze those traces, and identify the dimension he had moved to—that was the power of dimensional travel granted to her by the Goddess Nibiru.
While she didn't know everything about the concept of 'dimensions' governed by the gods, she felt she had established her own understanding after several jumps.
However, the current situation was a new case entirely.
The ancient shadow resting on the grass vibrated up and down.
Mina’s eyes widened at the sight.
"At least ten years? Or it could be an even older trace?"
Why had she failed to find this trace last time, only to discover it now?
Mina’s head began to ache.
"Kkumuli."
Mina called out to the shadow.
—!!!
As if responding to her call, the shadow’s main body trembled.
"I thought I had finally caught up to In-ho, but he’s drifted away again."
Mina reached her hand toward the sky as if to grasp the moon, her voice laced with loneliness.
"He feels so close, yet I can't reach him."
As if in agony, Mina clutched her head with both hands and began to scratch with her fingernails.
Scritch, scritch, scritch, scritch.
The sound of nails clawing at skin filled the silent, deep mountains.
"Phew..."
After disheveling her hair for a long moment, Mina muttered with a refreshed expression.
"At least it’s a relief. This seems to be the place where In-ho died... Since the trace was made so long ago, the analysis will take time, but..."
Mina paused mid-sentence.
"Wait a minute..."
Something was strange.
"Why are there two places where he died?"
When she had come before, she had clearly confirmed that In-ho died in Anhui.
But this location was quite a distance away.
What were the odds of moving to the exact same dimension among countless others?
"Because he died twice."
The chain of questions was snapped by a single voice.
At the sound of the voice appearing without a hint of presence, Mina spun around and recalled the ancient shadow.
Boom!
A powerful impact slammed into her right arm, sending her flying through the air.
Pain immediately surged through her entire body.
"Ugh!"
If not for the abilities of Namgung So-yeon she had absorbed here, her body would surely have shattered before she could even react.
Lee Mina crashed to the ground, smashing through several trees along the way.
The ancient shadow gathered into a ball at her landing spot, acting as a cushion.
"Phew... Thanks for the save, Kkumuli."
When Mina thanked the shadow, it moved its body up and down.
It was a warning to focus on the coming fight.
At that moment, the sound of tearing air reached her ears.
Like an arrow released from a longbow, something flew nimbly toward her position.
"Kkumuli!"
At Mina’s cry, the ancient shadow took form.
A long barbell appeared, with a heavy cluster of plates attached to the end.
Mina grabbed the end of the barbell and swung the blunt weapon made of rod and iron downward.
Clang!
With a clear metallic ring, a cloud of dust rose, and a dull sensation traveled up the rod.
However, an indescribable sense of dread refused to fade.
The chilling certainty that her opponent was perfectly fine.
"What a bizarre weapon."
And that dread accurately predicted the situation.
The opponent’s foot was planted firmly on the middle of the rod.
The barbell, bent nearly halfway, groaned piteously.
"Oh no...! Kkumuli!"
Mina tried to retract the shadow to prepare another attack, but she was grabbed by the throat and slammed into the ground.
"Agh!!"
Even as she screamed from the impact racing down her spine, Lee Mina did not lose sight of the opponent pinning her down.
In the deep mountains, bathed in the dim moonlight.
The one who had hunted her like a predator was looking down at her with eyes redder than blood.
Whoosh!
The opponent looming over her pulled back her right fist.
A straight punch was about to be driven down.
'I have to dodge...'
Her mind thought it, but the situation was dire.
The shadow was still in the process of being retracted, and her body was pinned, unable to move.
The best she could do was hope that the durability she had gained from absorbing people across various dimensions would withstand the blow.
Anticipating the coming impact, Mina instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.
BOOM!!!
A massive explosion rang in her ears.
Her ears rang, but the pain she expected did not come.
What happened? Was her brain overloaded because she was hit too hard?
"......"
When nothing happened after a long wait, Mina slowly opened her eyes.
The fist had landed right next to her face.
"You said your name was Lee Mina, right?"
With her red eyes flashing, the opponent slowly leaned down, bringing her face close.
"I knew you would come back. If you are the one chasing In-ho’s traces, I knew you would eventually end up here."
"But how was I to know when you would arrive? So, ever since you fled, I have stayed in this vicinity."
The opponent’s voice was thick with irritation.
"I do not know what sorcery it is, but you are clearly tracking In-ho through some means."
The opponent stopped moving at a distance where their breaths almost touched.
Mina swallowed hard, staring into eyes that made her knees tremble just by looking at them.
"In-ho and I met twice. At first, I thought the In-ho who had died had simply come back to life."
"But that was not it. The In-ho I met recently had no memory of me."
"It could have been that he lost his memories upon resurrection... but one thing occurred to me."
"When I first met In-ho... he seemed to know me, strangely enough."
"I didn't know why he reacted that way then, but after seeing In-ho off twice and meeting you, I finally realized."
"That what was the first meeting for me was the second meeting for In-ho."
"However, even with the assumption of reversing time, there is something that cannot be explained."
"In-ho definitely died. Twice, at that."
The opponent held up two fingers.
"With the knowledge I possess, there is no way to explain this."
Boom!
"So, you shall tell me everything."
Once again, a fist slammed into the ground beside Mina.
"Everything you know."
The Heavenly Demon bared her teeth and growled at Lee Mina.