"I can't talk anymore," Kitachi said. "I have to battle because I'm a battle doll."
Tuot summoned a sword and shield. The doll aimed a harpoon at her opponent, but didn't have time to grab him.
Tuot jumped to the side, and then released a harpoon from the tail of the aura. The doll had to redirect the weapon to attack the enemy, so as not to lose his head.
The harpoon stopped a few steps away from the target. Tuot deactivated the aura. The harpoon disappeared. The wrench no longer held anything, so it headed for the dinosaur itself.
For a moment, Tuot thought he was finished, but then his body jumped to the side. The doll redirected the wrench to the target, but was unable to capture it. A white glowing silhouette appeared in front of the dinosaur.
"I seem to have accidentally touched the symbol on the shield," Tuot rejoiced. "When I'm very scared, my arms and legs move wherever they want."
The silhouette turned into a lizard with yellow scales. The doll pointed the weapon at it, and then lifted it a little into the air…
The lizard activated a yellow aura, which released a wave of energy of the same color. The wrench could no longer hold the target, and it sank to the floor.
Tuot released several energy feathers from the wing portion of the aura to distract the enemy. The doll shook its head. The aura turned into a spherical, translucent barrier.
"Looks like I know what to do," Tuot looked at the lizard. "As long as it's with me, the doll won't immobilize me."
The energy feathers hit the wall of the barrier and were absorbed by it. A small clot of energy appeared next to the doll, which then joined the aura.
Tuot released the harpoon again, but this time he grabbed the lizard with it and ran towards the enemy. The doll had just blocked the attack with its feathers, so it was not ready for the sudden attack…
Tuot released a few more feathers, and they were again absorbed by the barrier. But then something strange happened - the dinosaur stopped a few steps away from the wall of the barrier, threw a lizard forward, and then its harpoon was aimed at the enemy...
The lizard collided with the barrier, and it failed. The air was filled with blue energy for a moment, and then it disappeared.
The doll was left defenseless, but didn't have time to do anything. Harpoon got close to her and cut off her head with one blow.
"It worked," Tuot deactivated the aura and immediately fell to the floor.
After a few moments, Tuot raised his head to see what had become of his opponent. The doll's body stood there without a head or aura, and the lizard lay on the floor and flickered.
"You were as dangerous as I thought," the doll's voice rang out. "But I didn't think you'd think of throwing something that wasn't meant for it. You're smart, too, like your friend."
"Finally," Tuot couldn't believe it. "A doll that looked like Halankuo said I was smart. And the real Halankuo would never call me that."
"Now you're free," the doll's voice continued. "Now the barrier will disappear, and you can leave here."
The doll's head, which had been thrown back a few steps, rose from the floor and stood in its place. Tuot looked at his former opponent and only now noticed how tasty her legs seemed.
"They are inedible, I know," Tuot turned away so as not to think about food. "Dolls are made from anything."
The barrier that surrounded the arena disappeared. Tuot noticed how he found himself at the entrance to the corridor, where Itinit was already waiting for him with a white glowing ball.
"Let's get out of here before the doll changes her mind."
"What?" Tuot didn't understand.
"I'll tell you later."
By some miracle, the man and the dinosaur managed to get to the surface without encountering the inhabitants of the crypt.
"Itinit, I think you forgot something," Tuot said.
"I didn't forget," Itinit summoned back the luminous ball, which in daylight no longer illuminated anything. "There are no animal girls there."
"The doll deceived us?"
"Not quite. She said her name. But how that will help us find the characters is unclear."
"I didn't remember her name."
"Me too. But it doesn't matter. It's just an ordinary doll. But the dungeon is strange. I didn't think that in such a wild place there was a crypt for dolls hidden."
"Nobody will find them here."
"Yeah, it seems that the dolls are hiding. But something else surprised me."
Itinit led his friend to the edge of the ruins, and then looked around.
"Does this doll look like Halankuo?" Tuot suggested.
"Yeah," Itinit looked at his friend warily. "It seems even you noticed."
"But I was able to distinguish her from Halankuo."
"What? Did you really recognize it by appearance? You thought at first that Halankuo had become a doll?"
"How did you guess?"
"I've known you for many years. Dinosaurs think strangely, although there are some patterns in their perception."
"What?"
"Nothing. How did you know that this doll wasn't Halankuo?"
"I asked her something and checked it out."
"Eh?"
Itinit looked at the nearest tree fern trunk and froze.
"What is it?" Tuot asked. "Is there something there?"
Itinit did not answer. He was clearly thinking about something important.
"If there are robots or dolls, then..."
Itinit was silent and did not move. Only when Tuot activated his aura out of fear, his friend noticed the vibration and looked at him.
"Sorry," Itinit finally answered. "I just thought that this should happen in the world, that you stopped being stupid."
"So that's who taught Halankuo such jokes," Tuot looked at the cloudy sky. "I need to write to her. I've been trying for over a month."
"I sent a message, but I don't know if she read it or not. The network is bad on this continent. But that's not what we need right now. What's more important now is finding our animals."
"Yup!" Tuot opened his mouth and nodded his head several times.
"Let's look for Halankuo," Itinit sighed. "It's easier." "Why?"
Itinit showed the map to his friend. The dinosaur didn't react for a few moments, but then almost fell to the ground.
"Yeah..." Tuot said. "You are right. The animal girls will wait. I've waited so long to meet them that waiting a few days or even a month doesn't mean anything to me. They will move their ears and tails somewhere else, and I will see them in my dreams."
"It's better not to see anything in a dream," Itinit closed the map. "Sanachan can send you something you won't recover from."
"Yup, dolls and robots are fine. They don't sleep."
"And they don't blink."
"But they are not happy. And I am very happy with my animal girls, although I am often scared."
"You're lucky Noru can't hear you."
***
Etinnei climbed out of the water and saw a sandy beach with a forest of tree ferns beyond. A single, flat-topped, conical mountain rose on the horizon. From the shore it seemed close, but small green dots on its slopes indicated otherwise.
"Noru, where are you?" Etinnei took a few steps and suddenly discovered thick legs and a brown dog tail sticking out of the sand.
A dog groan was heard in response. Etinnei approached the tail and sniffed it.
"This creature smells and moans like Noru... But why is there only half of it here?"
Etinnei looked at the trees that grew in the forest and remembered something.
"These are plants that take the form of other creatures," the arctic fox girl felt a little scared. "They attract prey, and then..."
Etinnei flinched, and then instinctively jumped back a few steps. The creature in the sand moved its legs and tail, and groaned even louder.
"It's preparing to attack," Etinnei became truly scared. "If Noru were here, she would cope with this monster. But I can't."
Etinnei turned back, as she hoped to find her friend there. But instead of the dog girl, a large crab with a gray shell was crawling along the sand.
"It's not a monster from the game. It's just an animal. I once saw it in a similar place. It's better not to touch it; otherwise it will hurt your finger."
For a while, the crab helped Etinnei forget about the "monster" behind her. But as soon as the arctic fox girl was distracted, the fear returned.
Etinnei took a step forward to run away. She did not see the crab next to her, so she stepped on its shell….
"A-ah-ah!" the arctic fox girl felt a sharp pain below her back, which spread throughout her entire body, except for her legs.
Etinnei didn't notice how the crab grabbed her tail with its claw and pulled it down. The pain intensified, and soon it became unbearable.
The arctic fox girl raised her head up and let out a scream that spread deep into the continent and reached the mountains. Soon she was surrounded by an electric aura, which shocked the crab...
Etinnei opened her eyes and saw the sea waves noisily rolling onto the sand. There was a crab lying nearby, smoking.
"What happened? Noru fried it? But why is it this color?"
Gradually, memories returned to Etinnei, and soon she realized in horror what had happened to the crab.
The arctic fox girl turned the animal over on its back to check if it was alive, but it was a mistake. The crab grabbed a finger on Etinnei's hand with its claw and squeezed tightly.
The air above the shore was filled with another loud scream. This time, it was impossible to activate the aura, since the passive skill was on cooldown. Etinnei began to lose consciousness from the pain, but at the last moment she saw a bright flash of fire and felt something hot...
"No one can hurt the animal girls."
The pain had diminished considerably, and this brought Etinnei back to consciousness. The Arctic fox girl looked at her finger and saw a red mark from a claw.
"It didn't bite you off anything?"
Etinnei had no doubt who this voice belonged to, so she was not afraid. Soon the savior appeared, or rather, her tongue – Noru sat down on the sand next to her friend and began to lick the affected area.
"What are you doing?" Etinnei asked.
"I'm icking..." Noru answered. "Dog saliva i heaing..."
"What?"
The pain disappeared within a few moments. Noru stopped licking her finger and then moved towards her cheek, but Etinnei stopped her with a snowflake shield.
"No need..." the arctic fox girl looked at the sand. "Nothing hurts anymore."
"It looks like I got carried away," Noru scratched her foot behind the dog's ear. "You look like an animal girl who needs to be protected."
"Do you know any other animal girls besides me?"
"Yup, it's my little sister."
Tears appeared in Etinnei's eyes. The snowflake shield had disappeared from the heat and no longer protected its summoner, so Noru was finally able to reach her friend and lick her cheek.
"Don't cry," Noru smiled. "We will definitely find all the animal girls and protect them from all sorts of dinosaurs and robots! But first we need to find the poor things who can't speak."
"I've only found a crab so far," Etinnei wiped her tears with her sleeve. "But there are a lot of things in the sea. There are animals that are impossible to imagine, but they exist."
"What animals?"
"Here."
Etinnei pointed her hand forward. The Arctic fox girl's face immediately became frightened, but the fear was contained only thanks to Noru, who was nearby.
"What's there?"
Noru turned around and saw a girl with long red hair, in a purple aura, who slowly descended to the sand. Her eyes were closed, and her clothes were made of white fabric.
"I don't know such an animal," Noru admitted.
"It's…" Etinnei grabbed her friend's hand. "It's not an animal."
"What?" Noru tilted her head first to one side, then to the other.
The girl repeated the dog girl's actions, although her eyes remained closed.
"Hey, don't copy me!" Noru growled and raised her tail.
The girl opened her eyes and looked at the dog girl with purple pupils. The next moment, Noru was thrown into the water.
Etinnei looked at the eyes and hair of the arriving creature and soon realized that it was a doll.
"I've seen it somewhere before," the Arctic fox girl thought. "I think Minniges showed it to me."
"Hey, what did you do?" there was a cry from the direction of the sea.
The doll's pupils turned black. She looked at Etinnei and took a step forward.
"Hey!"
The doll took another step forward, but then her path was blocked by a fireball that stopped right next to her face.
"Don't bother me," the doll opened her mouth. "I didn't come here to battle."
But Noru did not hear these words. A fiery comet flew at the doll...
"Noru, don't..." Etinnei suddenly said. "I know her."
"What?" Noru found herself standing in front of a fireball, which for some reason landed in her hand.
"I told you I didn't come to battle," the doll's voice repeated. "Don't bother me. Or do you want me to tell you again?"
Noru looked at Etinnei and found the doll "hanging" in the air, surrounded by a purple aura. The dog girl's hand squeezed the fireball, and it crumbled into many sparks.
"She wants to tell me something," Etinnei explained. "So don't bother me."
After a few moments, Noru finally realized that the doll was not a threat to her friend, so she walked towards the forest and hid between the trees.
"Uh..." Etinnei looked up, but was unable to put two words together.
The doll landed on the sand next to the arctic fox girl, deactivated the aura, then opened her inventory and took out a wooden rectangular object.
"I came to you to give you this thing," the doll said. "Is it yours?"
"Uh..." Etinnei looked at the object in the air in front of the doll, but again could not answer.
"You don't know how to speak?"
Etinnei looked at the doll, but she couldn't make a sound. A strange feeling appeared inside her, spreading throughout her body and blocking her ability to speak.
"There's no signal here," the doll said. "So you just don't know how to talk. But you don't look like a healing doll. Your hair is not pink. You are not a doll at all. Your hair is not smooth enough and your eyes move, although your breasts are like a healing doll's. You are strange."
Etinnei looked at the wooden object and soon recognized it as the lid of the coffin in which she traveled through the reservoirs of the Southern continent.
"You're strange," the doll repeated. "I'll leave this thing to you and go. I have a lot to do. I have to go to my brother and sister."
The doll lowered the lid onto the sand, then closed her eyes, activated the purple aura, turned back and flew over the shore.
Etinnei reached out her hand to the lid. The arctic fox girl's brain was "attacked" by a multitude of memories provided earlier by Minniges…
Etinnei came to her senses from something wet and hot. It was Noru, who was sitting on her friend and licking her with her tongue.
"Don't," Etinnei tried to move the dog-girl away, but could only move her tongue away from her face.
The feeling that had prevented Etinnei from speaking no longer troubled her.
"Who was that?" Noru stood up from her friend.
Etinnei looked around, but saw only two red crabs, clasping each other with their claws.
"This is..." the arctic fox girl looked at the coffin lid. "This is my creator."
"What?" Noru jumped in surprise, and her chest almost jumped out of her fur top.
"What's happened?"
"She's cool!"
Noru clenched her fists, and her pupils turned into lights for a moment.
"Why?" Etinnei tilted her head slightly to the side and wiggled her ears.
"Her hair is red, like fire!" Noru fell to her knees and looked at the sky. "And the eyes glow!"
"Uh..." Etinnei scratched her arctic fox ear with her hand. "Is this your first time seeing dolls?"
"Is this a doll?"
"Yup, I saw them before, but then I forgot. Minniges showed me my memories, but I can't tell them to you. They're too scary."
"Did this doll do something bad to you?"
"No."
Etinnei remembered the creature with the carrot nose that she couldn't look at. The arctic fox girl's breathing quickened, and her limbs began to tremble along with her ears and tail. Even their eyes moved as if they were ready to jump out of their slots so that they wouldn't be afraid.