The tree fell onto the clearing, almost completely covering it. The next moment, something gray flew out from the depths of the forest and landed on the thick trunk.
It was a girl with gray hair, with metal horns on top of her head, reminiscent of tree cones. Her dress, made of metal plates, clung tightly to her skin, held in place by her body's magnetic force, but the same could not be said for her tongue. Long, more like a blade than a sensory organ, it hung from the open mouth.
"This pillar is strong," the girl stuck her tongue back in her mouth, lifted one of her legs horizontally, and looked at the metal bracelet on it. "You should have asked for my metal. These things cut very slowly."
The spirit of metal sat down on the trunk, which was so thick that her feet didn't reach the ground.
"It's so big," the girl tried to squeeze the trunk with her thighs, but only crushed the bark. "Cutting it will be fun. While the creator is away, we need to cut it. Okay, my metal? Do you want to play with this pillar?"
Instead of an answer, a rustling sound was heard among the branches. Kyotyoryon turned her head toward the source of the sound.
"There's something here, but it's not big," the spirit of metal said, looking at the thick trunk, from which branched numerous waist-thick branches covered in dark green needles. "My metal will fix it."
A spear-length sword, made of gray and yellow metal, appeared in the air. It seemed like only a bear could lift it, but that wasn't necessary.
"This is my gift," Kyotyoryon pointed at the trunk. "You may eat. I grant your permission."
The sword descended upon the trunk, but only managed to penetrate a third of the way. Kyotyoryon nearly flew away from the impact, but managed to hold on because she was gripping the tree tightly with her thighs.
"You can't do it either?" Kyotyoryon jumped from the trunk and stood with her feet on the ground. "Wait for me. I'll cut down the pillar's helpers."
The spirit of metal swung her foot and summoned a short blade from her bracelet. The tree branch that had been in the character's way was severed from the trunk and landed on the ground.
"There are too many of them," Kyotyoryon noticed another, thicker branch behind the "defeated" one. "This pillar has too many helpers. They all look like him. Are they his children?"
The spirit of metal raised her leg with the blade vertically, and then sharply lowered it. The branch fell to the ground, revealing a white-feathered tail peeking out from behind the next "helper."
"This looks familiar," Kyotyoryon said, stuffing her tongue, which had accidentally fallen out, into her mouth.
Another kick and the "helper" fell on the ground. The spirit of metal saw the tail's extension, hidden behind the next branch.
"It's something like that thing I tore off that stupid dinosaur. It's attached to it, which means it must be here too. It can't be separate."
Suddenly, the tail moved. Kyotyoryon didn't notice it until a bird's cry came from the branches. The metal spirit jumped back a step.
Green energy appeared around the tail, and then something like a ribbon separated from it. Kyotyoryon tried to jump off the tree trunk, but didn't make it. An energy harpoon grabbed her leg. The spirit of metal felt the vibration spread up her lower body…
Kyotyoryon rose sharply above the forest. The lower half of her leg remained in the grip of the harpoon, but the rest of her body had acquired wings and was now flying above the fallen tree trunk.
"That stupid dinosaur stole my leg," Kyotyoryon's tongue fell out of her mouth again, but this time it reached the length of a short sword. "I need to get it back while I still can..."
The thought "cut off" in the metal spirit's mind. His body stopped in mid-air, his wings folded into bracelets, and his eyes closed. Only the tongue remained faithful to its owner, although in reality it simply could not go back into the mouth on its own.
Meanwhile, a girl with black hair and small ears appeared on the ground from behind a fallen tree branch. The first thing she saw was a gray star falling straight from the sky.
"Cool," the animal girl exhaled. "Tuot, look what's flying?"
A dinosaur's head with white feathers appeared from behind a nearby branch. The next moment, a large gray object landed right on the trunk next to Etinnei and Tuot.
"What's that?" the Arctic fox girl asked.
Tuot looked at the trunk and saw gray metal horns in it, extending into a head with long gray hair, closed eyes, and a blade protruding from its mouth.
"Uh..." Tuot recognized the creature, but couldn't explain it because his jaw was hanging open.
"Look, she's missing a leg," Etinnei pointed the icicle at one of her thighs, missing its extension.
The next moment, the missing lower leg flew up to the thigh and snapped into place.
"Now she has it," Etinnei lowered her hand with the icicle, and then jumped up sharply. "We found her! Only... there's something wrong with her."
Tuot looked at Kyotyoryon's leg, which was attached to her body so securely that it was impossible to tell which leg was missing.
"What's wrong with it?" the dinosaur tilted its head to the side. "It seems to be intact."
"It's upside down," Etinnei waved the sleeve of her fur top downwards.
Tuot tilted his head back, but still couldn't figure out what was wrong with the character. Finally, he noticed the antlers embedded in the trunk, and only then did he begin to suspect something.
"She became a knife. I wouldn't want to be in that tree's place."
"What are we going to do?" Etinnei asked. "She's heavy. Even if we get her out of this thing, we won't be able to carry her home."
"Is this yum-yum already living with me in my home?" Tuot shuddered, not from fear, as usual, but from joy.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Etinnei pulled the hood over her head. "Is there something wrong with me?"
"On the contrary," Tuot turned away. "Can you repeat what you said?"
"That girl with the horns is very heavy. We won't be able to carry her into the city."
"Okay. What are we going to do?"
"That's what I was asking you."
"Sorry, Etinnei, you're too sweet and soft, so I get distracted sometimes," Tuot looked up at the sky and noticed that there was no longer an aura there.
The situation seemed hopeless. Kyotyoryon was stuck unconscious in a tree trunk, and Etinnei and Tuot couldn't figure out how to get her home.
"I need to call my creator," the Arctic fox girl finally decided. "She can move objects over distances."
"Can you call her?"
"Yup, I need to go to the edge of the mountain peak and shout loudly."
"Etinnei... it's..."
"Is something wrong?"
The arctic fox girl twitched her ears and looked at the dinosaur in surprise.
"Can't you write to your creator on the network?" Tuot asked.
"I can," Etinnei stroked the arctic fox's tail with her hand. "But it's faster this way. If you write a message, my creator won't read it right away. But if you shout, she'll hear it right away."
The Arctic fox girl crawled out from behind the branch of a fallen tree and walked forward, to where the peak ended. Tuot noticed this only when a black, fluffy tail flashed past him.
The dinosaur activated his aura and, in a single movement, rose above the clearing occupied by the fallen tree…
Etinnei was found on the edge of a rocky ledge, near thick, old conifers. From here, a view opened onto the neighboring mountain, covered in mixed gray-green forests awakening after winter, and a city with colorful roofs on the summit.
The arctic fox girl, contrary to Tuot's expectations, didn't scream. She stood with her mouth slightly open and her hands clasped at chest level.
The dinosaur also paused before this wondrous view, but, of course, he wasn't looking at the landscape, but at his eared and tailed friend. His hand automatically summoned the interface, found the camera, and reached for the large round button to take a photo...
…but never touched the vibrating surface of the screen. Some force lifted the dinosaur off the ground and dragged it back.
This might have shocked Tuot before, but now, thanks to his experience fighting dolls, he understood the reason.
Several energy feathers flew out from the tail of the aura. Tuot felt himself able to move again and turned around...
...The hand, holding the eye, disappeared into a layer of fallen tree needles.
"This hand that was on the Southern Continent," a small purple shield with a black symbol appeared on Tuot's elbow. "What is it doing here?"
The hand with the eye did not want to appear on the surface, and therefore could not respond. Tuot thought he was imagining things, but nevertheless summoned the yellow lizard.
"If that hand attacks again, I'll have protection. I hope it at least doesn't crawl out of the tree."
The "enemy" still didn't appear. The lizard released the first wave of yellow energy from its aura, which reached Etinnei. The arctic fox girl turned and looked at this semblance of a creature in surprise.
"It's come again," Etinnei crouched down to level her gaze with the lizard.
"What?" Tuot answered. He thought of the hand and eye.
"I don't know. It's rather strange, this lizard. It doesn't speak."
Etinnei crawled up to the summoned creature and sniffed it.
"I don't understand anything," the animal girl's ears drooped slightly.
"It doesn't understand anything either," Tuot added. "It's not a creature. It's just a skill."
"It removes negative effects: electric shock or freezing."
Etinnei stuck out her tongue, closed her eyes, and tried to taste the creature, but all she "tasted" was the vibration. As a result, the poor animal girl's tongue curled into a tube, and her head almost turned backwards, like a doll's.
"I asked Itinit about this lizard," Tuot said. "He said it wasn't a creature or a normal ability, but something in between. It has the creature's appearance, and the ability's ability. That's about it, I think, as far as I remember."
Etinnei jumped two steps away from the lizard. The Arctic fox girl's tongue returned to its previous state, allowing her to speak again.
"You have another lizard, only a different color. Summon it. Maybe when there are two of them, they'll start talking."
"I haven't summoned them together yet," Tuot thought. "I wonder what will happen. Of course, they're unlikely to talk to each other, but what if they do something together?"
The dinosaur touched the symbol on the shield with its claw. Soon, a copy of the yellow lizard stood next to it, only with blue-green scales.
"Yup, that's the second lizard," Etinnei looked at the new "creature." "It doesn't speak either?"
"Yeah," Tuot answered. "They both do the same thing. They can't even move. If I go somewhere, they won't follow me."
The blue-green lizard activated her aura and released a wave of blue-green energy in all directions.
Tuot and Etinnei felt a slight surge of strength. The arctic fox girl released icicles from the sleeves of her fur top and didn't even notice. Her feathered friend activated the green aura.
With each wave the energy grew. Tuot felt like he would soon fly into the sky, shooting energy beams from his eyes, but after the eighth wave, the blue-green lizard disappeared, along with its effect.
"It seems this lizard has a limit," Tuot noted. "It releases several waves, but each time it's different: sometimes two, sometimes eight, and sometimes ten. I don't know why."
"Okay. The yellow lizard doesn't disappear?"
"It can last longer. But then it disappears, of course. I've never seen a skill that lasts forever."
Soon, the yellow lizard vanished into thin air, thus confirming its summoner's words.
"Let's go see the spirit of metal," Tuot suggested. "She's probably already awake and can go to the city on her own."
The Arctic fox girl didn't answer. She looked deeper into the forest and folded her ears slightly.
"Tuot, there's something there. Don't go there."
The dinosaur remembered the hand with the eye from under the ground and in a couple of moments found himself next to his eared friend.
"Someone is spying on us," the arctic fox girl continued. "Don't show your fear. It mustn't understand that."
"You don't sound like the arctic fox girl," Tuot said. "Is Minniges controlling you?"
Etinnei grabbed her friend by the clawed hand. Her ears flattened against her hair, and her tail drooped to her hips.
"Don't say that," the Arctic fox girl answered. "I'm scared. I don't know what it is. What if it pops out right in front of me?"
"Did you see something?"
"Yup, it was the hand that held the eye."
"I saw it too, but I thought I imagined it."
"What?"
"What?"
"It seemed to me," Etinnei looked at her friend. "What does that mean?"
"You don't know what it is?"
"No."
"It's when you see something, but it doesn't exist."
"Like Minniges? But he does exist, just in my head."
"It's like Minniges, who doesn't exist."
"Uh..."
Etinnei sighed and placed her free hand to her head.
"It doesn't matter," Tuot said. "Now we need to somehow get out of here and get Kyotyoryon."
"There's a cliff here," Etinnei removed her hand from her head. "We can jump off it. Just don't turn around. It's looking at us."
"But we'll crash."
"I won't crash. I have a passive skill."
"Will I crash?"
"Don't you have any skill for staying in the air? The cliff isn't big, but the slope is very steep. If you fall, you'll roll down. It'll hurt."
"What should we do with the spirit of metal? We can't leave her in such a dangerous place. There are probably dolls here."
"I didn't think of that. If the creator were here..."
Etinnei looked toward the city. The Arctic fox girl hoped that her creator would appear out of thin air and drive away this terrible hand.
"Write to her," Tuot suggested.
"She won't read the message right away," Etinnei turned to her friend. "It could take half a day or more. By that time, we'll be killed, roasted, and eaten. It'll be tasty for them, but not for us."
"Dolls don't eat."
"Are they dolls?"
"Looks like it. One of them can detach its arm from its body and walk underground. I fought it."
"Did you fight with the doll or with the hand?"
"I mostly fight with her arm. It's too early for me to fight the doll. This is an opponent on the level of the mushroom spirit, or at least Itinit."
"Oh..." Etinnei covered her mouth with her sleeve.
"What?"
"It's glowing."
Etinnei looked at the forest in fear and froze. Tuot couldn't see the "enemy," but he understood what was happening. Several energy feathers flew out from the tail of the aura, slightly covering the arctic fox girl from the autonomous eye's gaze.
"Etinnei, I'm sorry," the energy harpoon grabbed the animal girl around the waist.
Tuot released several more energy feathers from his wing to prevent the eye from targeting him, then turned and ran toward the cliff...
The descent was successful. Etinnei, thanks to the activation of her white-blue elemental aura, landed on a large ice floe that had formed on the surface of the stream. Tuot rolled into a thicket of coniferous bushes.
The harpoon had vanished without a trace, but the arctic fox girl still released icicles from her sleeves.
"Ahh... It got me again!"
Etinnei clenched her fists inside her sleeves and snapped the icicles that had protruded from her palms. The ice beneath her feet also cracked, but did not disappear.
"I'll get you," the Arctic fox girl glanced at the bushes and forest ahead.
Etinnei had completely forgotten what she was running from, so she didn't notice that hand emerge from the ground near the ice floe and even begin to open its palm.
But the energy harpoon saved the vengeful animal girl again. It suddenly emerged from the bushes, wrapped itself around her leg, and pulled her toward it..
Etinnei found herself on a steep mountainside, surrounded by thick trees. The bushes against the rocky cliff were left behind.
"Uh..." Etinnei looked back. "I wasn't there."
"There was a hand," Tuot emerged from behind a tree, his aura active. "We need to get down."
"That hand… the one with the eye…"
"No. The eye didn't have time to appear. You're lucky it didn't grab your legs. Get on me, let's go."
Etinnei looked at her feathered friend in surprise. Despite his confident words, Tuot was trembling. It was obvious that he wanted to help his friend, but he remained the same constantly scared dinosaur.