The Nature of Possession

430 – EP.15 What a small difference brings

***

Chunhyang, struck by an unexpected blow, fell to the ground.

Before her slender body hit the ground, the tree trunks intertwined and caught Chunhyang.

Even though she stood on the ground again, Chunhyang remained silent.

She slowly raised her hand and stroked her cheek. She could feel the thin, long scar at her fingertips.

Blood flowed irregularly from the porcelain’s enamel-like wound.

Chunhyang raised her head and looked at the being who had hurt her.

Imina’s emotionless face was embroidered with the marks of her noble blood.

The plunderer’s tongue moved grotesquely as he licked it.

“It doesn’t taste that impressive. It’s expensive.”

The black plunderer, savoring the taste, blurted out.

Chunhyang still didn’t say anything.

I was just gauging the temperature of the blood flowing through my fingers.

In the chaotic mountains, a black being and a golden being confront each other.

The tree trunks writhed and hissed like snakes, and the old, bent trees groaned and growled dully.

The black marauder was indifferent while enduring the ravages of nature.

Chunhyang, reflected in its eyes, was no different from the strong men she had met while crossing dimensions.

The ruler of the kingdom? A transcendent being? Those who laughed at him as weak all met the same fate.

The black being was certain that the woman in front of him would meet the same end.

“Dare.”

It was Chunhyang who broke the long silence.

“Did you scratch the face you were going to show to the young master?”

Her face was wrinkled with anger and mercilessness.

Chunhyang, who had been cleaning her wounds with the sap of the grass, relieved the pus that had been tightly bound in her wound.

Her loose clothes opened, allowing her to move more freely.

“I’m going to die soon….”

The black marauder, who was trying to calmly bring death to her, was unable to finish his words.

“Who gave you permission to open your mouth?”

Hundreds of tree trunks stretched into the air, wrapping themselves around the mouths and bodies of the marauders.

Like the hunting style of a giant snake, the tree trunk wrapped around the body of the predator as if suffocating him.

As Chunhyang’s eyes, which had erased her smile, began to shine golden, the tree trunks threw the bodies of the plunderers to the ground.

As if a huge rock had fallen, pits began to form, one by one.

A loud noise echoed through the mountains, and birds and beasts of burden began to run towards the houses to escape the wrath of the mountain lord.

The cocoon made by the stem rises into the air and falls to the ground repeatedly.

“Ugh!”

The plunderer cut the stems and came out, but the regenerated stems soon began to engulf her body once again.

The stems that had initially been tightening around the body gradually dug into the flesh and grabbed the bones, as if to reflect the emotions of their owner.

Pus and blood began to flow from the crushed area.

“The only one who can hurt me is you, Master.”

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

“Shut up!!”

Not liking the arrogance, the raider took out the giant being he had hidden inside.

The roar of a massive beast, extending from the back of the raider, its jaws moved and it tore through tree trunks.

Chunhyang thought that if the lizard she saw on the mountain grew bigger, it would look like that.

Knock knock knock

Just walking made the mountain tremble.

Suddenly, a huge black beast appeared, towering over trees that had lived for hundreds of years and grown taller.

It had rough skin and large legs and tail contrasting with its short arms.

The looter thought that if he could not use hypnosis, he could respond with strong physical force.

The beast, dripping shadows like saliva, charged straight towards Chunhyang.

“What a truly filthy ability.”

Chunhyang narrowed her eyes in disgust at the sight of him taking out the thing he had swallowed.

In her eyes, each and every one of the plunderer’s abilities seemed inferior and undignified.

Her impressions aside, the destructive power of the rushing black beast was sufficient.

If she kept going like this, even Chunhyang wouldn’t be able to be confident of her life.

“I guess you think my hypnosis is all the power I have.”

Chunhyang picked up a rolling branch. The stems wrapped around the branch as she held it in her hand.

The stem and branches were woven together to form a realistic sword, and Chunhyang held the handle and lowered her body for a moment.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

You feel everything: the approaching might of a giant, the stench of a beast, the enemy, and the distant presence of a loved one.

Train your senses to become more sensitive and gradually expand your range of detection, like weaving together a stem.

I recall the memories of when I first learned to use a sword.

The memory felt as faint as scattered starlight, but my body remembered it clearly.

Oh, it’s been a while.

The beast opened its mouth and roared.

The wind pressure it created made her skirt sway like a fluttering reed.

“I don’t know how much of your existence you have swallowed.”

A sticky black shadow falls to the ground.

Chunhyang opened her eyes, which had been closed by the beast’s jaws.

A golden light sparkled in his eyes.

“All that time combined probably doesn’t amount to more than the time I’ve swung my sword.”

Just one swing.

The black beast’s body split in two as the upward slash flowed from below, sweeping across the ground.

“It’s an early rainy season.”

The torn corpse of the beast turned into a shadow and fell from the sky as black rain.

Chunhyang, who had changed her sword into an umbrella, sang while avoiding the rain.

***

The incident occurred due to a very small difference.

Yimina can count on one hand the number of times she has encountered beings stronger than herself while traveling between dimensions.

Having swallowed various beings little by little, Imina steadily grew stronger, and except for the beginning, she never once experienced a decline in strength.

Although there were constant battles for dominance as many beings entered within, there was never a case of losing dominance as long as one did not exert excessive force.

But now, things were different than usual.

The opponent was far stronger, and Yimina had to draw on all the power of the being she had swallowed.

In order to stand up to Chunhyang, she had to constantly look inside herself, and the eyes looking at her cried out for control of her body.

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

This was a very small difference.

Chunhyang was so excited that she wondered if she had ever been this excited in her life.

It was humiliating to have allowed an opponent I had underestimated to strike me, and on top of that, showing a clean face was not enough, and the wound made my blood boil.

Moreover, the fact that the fight with such a lowly being was dragging on for so long was a disgrace to her.

This was a very small difference.

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

Chunhyang looked at the tip of the spear shaking and decided to flick it away instead of holding it.

The spear flew away, and its trajectory changed as it bounced off Chunhyang’s swinging hand.

The tip of the bent spear went into a gap in the tangled tree trunk. Inside the cocoon-shaped thing was something very important.

Bright red blood began to flow out from the cracks in the tree trunk.

Chunhyang hurriedly headed to the coffin and opened it with her hands.

“no!!”

A terrified scream echoed sharply through the mountain.

***

Athena, the first-class dimensional manager who was observing her own dimension, took out her pager at the vibration she felt in her arms.

The pager was buzzing with a loud noise.

“what….”

Living as a Dimensional Manager, there were only a few times like this she had ever experienced, and she swallowed her saliva in anxiety from the unknown.

When I moved to the calling location, the other first-class dimensional management gods, excluding her, were already gathered there.

Athena approached a familiar face and asked.

“Loki, what’s going on?”

Loki laughed in disgust at the sight of Athena’s heavily armed form.

“Well, I don’t know. But seeing all the first-class Dimensional Management Gods gathered together… it must be a big deal, right?”

“I know that too.”

Athena glared at Loki as if she was frustrated, but Loki only smiled and did not respond.

Soon, a bright light began to shine from the ceiling of the hall where the first-class dimensional management gods were gathered.

Six wings.

The radiant light.

Halo above the head.

The first-class dimensional management gods bowed their heads to the divinity that made those who saw it kneel.

“…Lord Gabriel.”

It was the appearance of a level 0 dimensional management god.

The being with his eyes covered by a blindfold looked down at the first-class dimensional management gods and spoke.

“An intruder has occurred in your unique dimension.”

It was a shocking delivery of the situation, in contrast to the calm tone of speech.