We climb the final flight of stairs and finally reach Evelyn's sister. There are still floors above us and I can detect more monsters, but I don't think we have to worry about them.
Amber appears to have just regained consciousness. She's looking around, confused, while holding what appears to be a chunk of ore. When she spots Evelyn, she runs to her, crying, without letting go of the thing she's holding.
As the two sisters hug and Evelyn tries to calm Amber down, I take a look at the state of the room around us. I approach one of the pillars, which appears to be heavily cracked, and put my hand on it. I feel a heavy and viscous substance flowing down, out of the cracks.
The remains of the slime I killed are now flowing out of the various gaps in the building. I really hope it wasn't holding the place together, otherwise...
As I think that, the wall and a part of the floor in front of me collapse loudly. I turn towards the two sisters and scream:
"We have to get out of here now! The whole thing is falling apart!"
Despite Amber still being visibly shaken by the situation, they both get up and run to the stairs. I take one last look around and see large amounts of grey goop falling from various parts of the ceiling. The slime boss and the building were pretty much one and the same.
We run down the stairs as fast as possible, but we're slowed down by Amber, who can't channel her power to increase her speed. We're also very high, so even if we could go at full speed, it would take us a while to make it out. There's no telling how the building is going to collapse, so simply running outside isn't enough: we need to run as far away from it as possible.
Ideally, I'd want us to get out of the barrier before the whole thing falls to the ground, but I seriously doubt we're going to have enough time for that.
We only managed to make it down a few floors when we feel the place topple. The higher part of the building must have split apart from the base and is now in free fall. When we hit the ground, it's definitely going to severely injure us and probably kill Amber, and that's not accounting for the debris that are going to collapse on top of us as well.
Can I create some kind of barrier to protect the two sisters? But what about the fall? Can I slow it down as well? Not while we're inside the building, it would just crash on us if I simply slowed us down. Can I manage both a barrier and a slower fall? Then the building would crash on the barrier, so it'd have to be solid enough to withstand that, and...
I try to come up with a solution as best I can as we fall with the building, but I don't believe my control over my own energy is sufficient to do everything I would need to do. Either the barrier won't be strong enough or I won't be able to slow the fall down.
Suddenly, however, we become suspended in midair. The three of us, the building, the debris surrounding us, we all find ourselves floating around, ignoring the laws of gravity. I can sense the incredible amount of magical power that's flowing around us and stopping our fall, but I can't sense anyone around.
Slowly, the building starts breaking apart, causing holes to appear in the walls. The invisible power holding onto us extracts us from the building through these holes before letting go of everything else, causing the structure to fall down and hit the ground with a loud noise.
Now that we're outside, I can see someone floating nearby, her hands extended in our direction. She has long, golden hair with pointy ears poking through it. She's wearing a simple dress with a metal breastplate over it, and she appears to have a bow and a quiver strapped to her back.
She's clearly not human, and unlikely to be an adventurer, but since she's saving us, I don't want to jump to the conclusion that she's actually a monster.
She starts floating away, distancing herself from the collapsing building, and dragging us along with her. Evelyn and Amber seem as confused by the situation as I am.
After a short flight, we start making our way down, and she releases us once our feet are safely touching the ground. She then turns towards me and says:
"My name is Ibellir, but I am mostly known as The Elven Witch. I know you can understand me, I have the same power you do."
"So if I answer you like this, you understand what I'm saying?"
"Indeed, I do. A Witch's power allows her to understand and be understood by all living creatures, no matter the language used. Even creatures who cannot hold conversations will understand what we tell them."
"That sounds... Very useful. But did you just say 'a Witch's power'? I'm not sure I meet the requirements to be one of those."
Ibellir comes closer to me, taking a good look at my whole body, before saying:
"So this isn't a costume? You really are a man?"
"Yes, I really am a man."
From the corner of my eye, I can see Evelyn who appears to sigh out of disappointment again. I find that reaction a bit confusing, but I don't dwell on it.
Ibellir walks towards the two sisters before continuing:
"You two should probably leave this Gate. I'll keep your friend here so we can discuss a few things before sending him back."
She then turns towards me:
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions about the power you found yourself yielding. If you agree to stay here for a bit, we'll answer them as best we can. In exchange, it is my hope that we can agree to help each other going forward."
I nod. It could be a trap, but she doesn't seem hostile. Additionally, I could tell that her power was similar to mine when she was keeping us in the air. She probably can help me understand what's going on.
She walks to the barrier and opens it in the exact same way I did earlier. On the other side, I can see our university's campus. Evelyn asks me:
"Are you sure about this? Staying behind in this world with a stranger?"
"I'm willing to take that risk. I think she can tell me more about the magic flowing through my body."
"Alright. Be careful, then. And thanks a lot for helping me save my sister. I don't think I could have managed alone against these monsters."
"I couldn't just leave someone in danger without doing anything. I'm happy you're both fine. I'll see you later."
Evelyn smiles and nods before going to grab her sister. She explains the situation quickly, and they both leave through the hole Ibellir created. Shortly after, the Witch closes the hole and turns towards me.
"Let's get going. I have some friends who will also want to meet you."
