Aldric walked along the deck with several others, all of them dressed in similarly mismatched sailor uniforms. The odd thing was—not one of them had a normal human face. One had the head of a dog, another a pig, and another a chicken, all rendered in a cartoonish, humanlike style that made Aldric feel like he had somehow wandered into an animated film.
He quickly understood what they were. These strange companions were figments of the young girl Carla's imagination—background characters her mind had conjured up to populate her dream world. Just like NPCs in a traditional video game, they operated on simple, pre-programmed patterns of behavior.
As for their silly animal heads, Aldric guessed that it probably stemmed from the deep impression left on her by that shark-man. In her subconscious, she had softened and reimagined that terrifying figure into cute, harmless animal people.
Most likely, this entire ship itself was a manifestation of the girl's will. Standing on the deck, Aldric gazed around at the surreal landscape.
Towering bone-like reefs jutted tens of meters out of the blood-red sea around them, jagged and claw-like in form. From time to time, massive tentacles rose and fell amidst the crimson waves. Clearly, this grotesque world was the result of Chaos bleeding into the girl's subconscious.
The ship born of her imagination was enormous—so vast, in fact, that even an aircraft carrier from his previous life would seem small beside it. Yet its design was strange: the vessel resembled an inland river warship more than an ocean-going ship, with towering decks and a shallow draft.
Still, the very structure of the ship told Aldric something important—Carla's subconscious was instinctively trying to distance itself from the Chaos that threatened to engulf it. That was a good sign.
At the center of the deck squatted a massive armored giant, easily ten meters tall. His shield alone was large enough to serve as a landing pad for a helicopter, its surface gleaming with indomitable strength.
As Aldric moved closer, he noticed that the giant's face bore an uncanny resemblance to the Knight Bart.
It was Bart—enlarged to colossal proportions, his limbs thick and awkwardly out of proportion to his head. But Aldric also noticed that this giant Bart had no neck; his head was fused directly to his shoulders, leaving him unable to look behind the towering ship's structure.
Aldric couldn't help but smile faintly. This girl's mind really is as pure as blank paper.
Following the direction hidden from the giant's view, he circled to the other side of the ship—and there, just as he expected, found young Carla nestled comfortably in the arms of Liam.
Concealing his own presence, Aldric observed the dreamlike scene with mixed feelings. The "Liam" in this dream was noticeably more handsome than the real one—almost unnaturally so. And on his back were a pair of pristine, angelic wings.
Every word spoken by this "enhanced" Liam sounded as though it had been copied straight out of a cheap knight-and-princess romance novel—sickeningly sweet and utterly meaningless. But judging by the blissful expression on the girl's face, it was working perfectly on her.
Aldric sighed. This tender moment probably won't last long. If this dream follows her fears, the nightmare will take form soon—likely modeled after those pirates.
And just as he thought that, the giant Bart suddenly stood up, roaring a thunderous war cry as he frantically searched for Carla.
From the distance, a pirate ship surged toward them—a monstrous vessel made of flesh and bone, with a twisted, living hull and a gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth carved into its bow.
The dream ship shook violently as the pirate vessel lunged forward and bit into its side. Dozens of burly pirates with shark heads leapt into action, lowering spindly ladders to board the deck.
Meanwhile, the angelic Liam gently placed Carla into a gem-studded wooden barrel that had materialized out of thin air, adorned with flowers and precious stones. Before sealing it, he softly sang her a love song through the barrel's wooden walls.
Aldric almost laughed aloud. Too bad this game doesn't have a replay function.
As the battle raged, the towering giant Bart bellowed and swung his shield, while Liam soared through the air, his wings flashing with radiant light. He slaughtered the shark-headed warriors one after another on the ladders and the deck, cutting a heroic figure worthy of legend.
But from the depths of the crimson sea, countless more shark ships surfaced, surrounding Carla's ship from all directions. Each one latched onto the hull as hordes of shark-headed warriors climbed aboard, even swarming up onto the giant Bart's body like ants.
From her hiding place, young Carla cautiously peeked out of her jeweled barrel. Aldric noticed that the barrel itself was changing—the gems were dimming, the flowers withering away.
And as the barrel faded, so too did her protectors: the giant Bart began to shrink, slowly returning to human size, while the angelic Liam's once-magnificent wings began to molt, feathers drifting down as he tumbled helplessly onto the deck.
Everything here was a projection of Carla's imagination. If she lost faith in them—if she stopped believing they could protect her—their power would fade away.
Just as Aldric was assessing the battlefield, a tall, hooded figure approached the barrel where Carla hid. Aldric froze, he hadn't sensed her arrival at all.
When the figure finally pulled back her hood, a cascade of silvery-white curls spilled out like a waterfall. In this hellish world of crimson seas and bone spires, her presence was like an oasis in the desert—radiant and pure, softening the very air around her.
She had a tall nose, luminous eyes, and a gentle yet commanding beauty. Carla herself was an adorably sweet girl, but beside this woman, she looked almost childlike. Though they appeared to be around the same age, the silver-haired maiden exuded a mature, calm elegance that Carla lacked.
Humming a light, soothing melody, the mysterious woman knelt beside Carla, her song melting through the chaos like a soft dawn breeze. Gradually, Carla relaxed, resting her head upon the silver-haired girl's lap.
The jeweled barrel transformed into a throne made of blooming roses, enveloping the two in a cocoon of serenity.
As Carla calmed, the battle shifted again. Giant Bart regained his full height, his shield shining bright once more. The angel Liam's bald wings regrew their feathers, spreading wide in renewed splendor.
The shark-headed pirates were slaughtered en masse, their bodies bursting into colorful bubbles that shimmered briefly before vanishing into the air—leaving not a single drop of blood behind.
Aldric studied the silver-haired girl closely. Is she another construct of Carla's imagination—a dream guardian created to soothe her fear?
Something about her was off. She didn't fit this world. Her form was too vivid, too detailed—like a high-definition 3D model inserted into a 16-bit pixel game.
Then, as if sensing his gaze, the mysterious girl lifted her head and looked directly toward where Aldric was hiding. Her eyes, pure white and blazing like molten silver—radiated an overwhelming presence. She didn't move, didn't speak, but merely sitting there, she emanated the authority of a queen surveying all creation from her throne.
In that instant, Aldric's mind went blank. A wave of inexplicable devotion surged through him—an urge to approach her, to kneel before her, to please her. She... she's the goddess of my dreams...
A sudden sting struck his cheek, as if someone had slapped him hard across the face. Aldric snapped out of the trance, gasping for breath.
What the hell was that?!
He touched his face still tingling with pain and realized he had unconsciously stepped out of his hiding place and wandered to the very edge of the deck. A few shark-headed pirates were glaring at him from a nearby ladder, only a few meters away.
If not for the witch's timely warning, he might have walked straight off the ship and plunged into the chaotic sea below.
His heart pounded violently. What is she? How could she affect me so deeply?
Even with his powerful Willpower attribute and the [Still Water, Clear Mind] talent, he had been completely defenseless.
(End of Chapter)