Chương 63: Chapter 16 Beyond the Gate: The Crimson-Eyed Witch(Part 4)

"Come now. Let's continue. You'll leave this one to me this time, won't you?" The Witch whispered inside my head. If I told her to be quiet, she would. If I wanted control of my body, it remained mine without question. I was still firmly in charge. Nothing could overturn that. The problem was that suppressing her too much only made her more troublesome later. Like dealing with an energetic child.

"I'm not interested," the Sage replied lazily.

"Leave it to her. If you need me, call me." And with that, he retreated into silence once more. The new pipe had awakened him, but the Sage himself was astonishingly idle. If asked a question, he would answer. Otherwise, he preferred simply watching the world through my eyes. Like an old man content to spend the entire day in front of a television.

"Would it be alright if I fought next time?" Hyodo asked.

"I'd like to test this new image."

"Witch. Grant permission." The voice of the Sage spoke up unexpectedly. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"If he reaches the middle ranks, our combat capability improves."

"If you're asking, then I suppose I must." The Witch pouted.

"But if we find something interesting, it's mine."

"That's fine." I laughed.

"We should compete when it comes to hunting."

"Excellent." Hyodo smiled.

"Then let's proceed safely and efficiently." I had no idea what qualified as a "small bone" in the Witch's mind, but judging by our progress so far, reaching the exit Gate should be manageable. Only four floors remained. New monsters occasionally appeared, but recording and analyzing those was the Scriptor's responsibility. Not mine. I looked ahead and sighed.

"Walking everywhere is becoming inconvenient." A thought occurred to me.

"Perhaps we should fly." The reaction was immediate.

"Wait—we can fly?" One of the more carefree soldiers nearly jumped for joy.

"That's fantastic! Thank you, First!" Considering the amount of recovery medicine we'd collected, we hadn't skipped any floors. Even with breaks, exhaustion was beginning to accumulate throughout the team. Flying would save a tremendous amount of time and effort.

"Of course you can." I nodded.

"I can carry everyone at once if necessary." Several faces lit up instantly. Then I continued.

"But how do you want to fly?" The excitement faded into confusion.

"... What do you mean?"

"If you're going to fly, you'll need a vehicle."

"A vehicle?" The soldier tilted his head.

"Like what?"

"Oh, there are plenty of possibilities." I began counting them off.

"A broomstick."

"A flying carpet."

"A giant balloon."

"A dragon." The expressions around me became increasingly complicated.

"Everyone dreams about flying at some point." I smiled.

"And everyone imagines something different." The Witch giggled inside my head.

"A dragon sounds fun."

"Too dramatic," the Sage muttered.

"Flying carpets are inefficient." I ignored both of them.

"The important part is consistency." I pointed toward the sky.

"If everyone's image differs too much, the construct becomes unstable." Several soldiers suddenly looked less enthusiastic.

"Unstable?"

"Correct." I nodded matter-of-factly.

"If the image collapses while you're airborne..." I spread my hands.

"You fall." Silence. A very uncomfortable silence. The cheerful soldier who had been celebrating moments earlier slowly lowered his hand.

"... Straight down?"

"Straight down." His face paled immediately. The others weren't looking much better. I couldn't really blame them. Most people wanted to fly. Very few people wanted to discover what happened when the concept holding them in the air suddenly stopped existing.

"Therefore," I continued, "you should decide carefully." The team exchanged uncertain glances. A broomstick. A carpet. A dragon. A balloon. Everyone was already imagining something different. Which meant this was going to take longer than expected. Honestly, I wasn't surprised. Humans were like that. Ask ten people to imagine the sky and you'd receive ten different answers. And yet, despite the difficulty... The thought of flying clearly excited them. The Gate was still dangerous. Monsters still lurked ahead.

But for the first time since entering this bizarre world, the atmosphere felt lighter. Almost hopeful. I watched the group argue over flying methods while the Witch laughed inside my head and the Sage resumed pretending not to care. For now, things were peaceful. And with only four floors remaining before the exit, I hoped they would stay that way.