"I saw something," Yueret admitted.
"I saw something too," Unana repeated. "I even felt warm, but then cold again."
There was silence. After a few dozen moments, the brother and sister looked at each other:
"Kimchan."
Unana jumped off the lizard, but completely forgot about the snow. A sharp pain seized the girl's lower body and stopped her a step away from the entrance to the cave.
"Yueret…" Unana said in a creaky voice. "I think I'm turning into an ice statue."
"Just don't dress like you're at home," her brother answered. "I warned you."
"That animal made me…" Unana exhaled a cloud of icy steam. "Yueret, if I become an ice statue, break me."
The archer suddenly felt the pain disappear, and then saw steam rising up.
"What?" Unana looked down, but through the steam she could only see the silhouette of a lizard. "I'm not cold anymore."
Soon the steam dissipated. Instead of snow, Unana stood ankle-deep in warm water, and there was a heat source nearby.
"Thank you, of course, but…" the archer said. "This is too much…"
The lizard stood in front of Unana and lowered its thick blue tongue into the snow, which was a real source of heat.
"She can change the temperature of the water with her tongue," Yueret guessed. "Now it's clear how she can live in winter."
The lizard began to glow with white light. A few moments later, an almost human version of herself was sitting in her place.
"Yup, I can change the temperature of the water," Timnichan looked at Yueret. "But only in combat form. In normal form, my abilities are different."
"You almost killed me with them," Yueret remembered. "But if it weren't for you, I would have forgotten how to use my most powerful skill. So I wasn't offended."
"You're a little different from your sis, but only a little," Timnichan looked at Unana.
Meanwhile, the water, which was left without heating, began to cool. Unana had to put her boots back on her feet.
"This cave is actually the entrance to the elevator," Timnichan continued. "If you go in there, you will fall through, and then the elevator will simply crush you when it goes up."
"Kimchan," Unana approached the cave, looked inside, but saw nothing.
"Nothing will happen to your dog," Timnichan licked her lips. "There are no dinosaurs at the station."
"No dinosaurs," Unana looked at the lizard girl.
"Didn't you know that dinosaurs eat dogs?" Yueret approached his sister.
"Of course I knew," Unana looked at the snow beneath her feet. "But I've never seen them do it. Dog meat probably tastes like bear meat. It might even be edible, but I don't want to eat it."
Timnichan approached the entrance to the cave, stuck out her tongue and moved it through the air from bottom to top. A small blue screen with several buttons appeared in front of the character.
"Where are you taking us?" Yueret asked. "You didn't say."
"I don't know myself," Timnichan answered. "I'm just following the instructions the creator left me."
The cold lizard spirit tongue selected the lowest button, and then the screen disappeared. A purple light appeared in the dark space of the cave, gradually increasing in size...
... A stone gazebo, surrounded by a purple energy aura, flew out from the depths of the cave.
"This is an elevator," Timnichan pointed at the gazebo. "It will take you to the station inside the mountain, from where you will travel by train."
"Where?" Unana asked.
"I already said that I don't know," the lizard girl answered. "That's what it says in the instructions for accepting bear cubs. If you don't believe me, read it."
Timnichan summoned a screen with a long "wall" of text.
"There's nothing clear here at all," Unana said. "Yueret, maybe you understand?"
"No," the brother answered. "I've never seen these symbols. They're probably encrypted."
"The creator said that only I can understand what is written here," Timnichan explained. "I have a passive skill that deciphers the text."
"Daddy is definitely hiding something very scary," the thought flashed through Unana and Yueret's heads.
Timnichan rolled up the screen, and then pointed her tongue at the elevator. The brother and sister entered the gazebo and sat down on the benches opposite each other.
"This elevator suits you," the lizard girl said. "The creator said that you should wish good luck, because you will need it."
"You are not coming with us?" Unana asked.
"No," Timnichan looked back at the sea. "It's too dry for me there. In fact, the instructions say that I should just take you to the elevator and summon it."
The gazebo was surrounded by a purple energy barrier, which barely stood out against the background of the aura.
"Good luck," Timnichan smiled. "Be careful at the station. You could get crushed by a train."
"Does she understand what she's saying?" Unana and Yueret thought the same thing again.
The energy aura around the elevator burst. The gazebo vibrated and flew down at great speed...
***
Noru brought Itinit to the side of a canyon overlooking a long, wide stone bridge.
"We're almost there," Itinit sighed. "The "Metal Bird" is on the other side. You can't see it from here, but it's even better this way."
As soon as Itinit finished his sentence, Noru flew to the other side of the canyon in a fiery aura.
"And me?" Itinit took a step forward, but quickly realized that he couldn't catch up with such an active pet.
"I'll have to go myself."
Itinit bowed his head and walked forward. After several dozen moments, the creator of the dog girls realized that for some reason the bridge didn't end.
Itinit began to guess what the reason was, so he raised his head and saw a man without a carrot nose and without a face on the bridge. Kuttanai was pointing a wrench at the guy, which hinted at why the bridge "didn't end."
"You forgot to give me something," the creator of the dolls said. "We did agree."
"Yes, I forgot," Itinit lied. "I'll get it now. But for this you must let me go."
Kuttanai lowered his hand with the wrench. Itinit summoned his inventory. A few moments later, a small stone coffin stood on the bridge between the two creatures.
"I wish I had met that doll instead," Itinit thought. "At least she's not scary."
While Itinit was remembering the doll with chains, Kuttanai pointed the wrench at the coffin lid. A small blue virtual screen with two buttons appeared above the coffin – in the form of horns pointing in different directions – up and down.
The creator of the dolls pointed the wrench at the button with the horn pointing up. A password field appeared in front of the screen, which was immediately filled with the necessary symbols.
"I would like her to look at me again," Itinit continued to dream mentally. "Only now I will not get out anymore. I want to look at her until I want to eat."
The guy looked at his opponent and soon saw in his place the doll he had dreamed of. The doll with long pink hair that covered part of her chest stood with her mouth open and held the end of her own chain in her hands…
Unfortunately, the vision did not last long. The doll was replaced by a terrible creature without a head, but with hair. Kuttanai held a gray metal antenna in the shape of a carrot in his hand and examined it with his bulging eyes.
"This is what I need," the creator of dolls said. "I didn't think the antenna was still there. I forgot about it, and if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have remembered."
"You have nowhere to put it," Itinit noted.
"Yes. I can only look at it. But I see that it suits me."
Kuttanai called up his inventory, put the antenna there, and then pulled out a blue energy memory card from another slot.
"Here are the coordinates of the location where the character is located," the creator of the dolls released the memory card and then pointed a wrench at it. "You can take it."
The card approached Itinit, and soon appeared in his inventory. Kuttanai turned his back on his former opponent, activated a purple aura, and tried to fly up, but...
A fiery comet flew past the creator of the dolls, and he barely managed to dodge.
"Master, let's go home," Noru looked at Itinit and wagged her tail. "My sis is waiting for us."
Only after this Itinit noticed the pet, and realized that she was not going to battle at all.
"Yes, it is better to leave while this creature allows it," Itinit decided. "He will find his own opponent."
Noru ferried herself and her creator to the opposite side of the canyon. Kuttanai rose above the bridge to fly in the other direction, but suddenly felt that he could not move.
"How did you know where I was?" the creator of the dolls immediately understood what had happened. "I don't have an antenna now. Were you watching your allies?"
The tip of an electric spear emerged from Kuttanai's belly.
"You see for yourself why being a doll is better than being a human," Kuttanai continued. "A human would not survive this."
The electric spear exploded. Kuttanai's body was struck by an electric current, which, although it did not cause any damage, made his limbs tremble. The wrench fell from his hand, hit the stone surface of the bridge, and was then thrown into the air and flew down to the bottom of the canyon, where a turbulent river flowed...
The creator of the doll's body shook from the electric shocks and was unable to resist. All that was left were his eyes, which were "hanging" in the air under his black hair. They avoided the attack due to the lack of connection with the body, so they turned back with their purple pupils activated...
***
The chain wrapped around Kyotyoryon's leg and then pulled upward. The character's body flipped over and hung upside down from the ceiling.
Kyotyoryon saw a doll wrapped in chains from her neck to her hips. Despite the inverted angle, her long pink hair hung down to her knees and was partially intertwined with the weapon-clothes.
"You stole a lot of my metal," Kyotyoryon said. "That's why I'll give it back. Do you agree?"
The doll did not answer. She looked at the character with glowing purple pupils and held the chain in her hand.
A multitude of metal copies appeared under the ceiling, as well as several small balls.
"You must agree, because this is not your metal," Kyotyoryon continued. "This is my metal. It obeys me. I assembled it from your chain, which is too long. It is not very much, but it will suffice."
The doll rose to the ceiling, but did not let go of her enemy with her gaze.
"My metal is the strongest, and you are not," Kyotyoryon added.
The spears and balls flew to different parts of the room so that the doll could not stop them with her gaze, after which they flew...
… Not at the enemy. The spears and balls attacked the ceiling, which immediately became covered with numerous cracks...
Yuehei was left to watch as the rocks broke off from the ceiling and fell to the floor. At first, it didn't bother her, but then one of the fragments covered part of the enemy's body. The healing doll could no longer focus its attention on the target...
... Kyotyoryon flew out of the hole on the surface of the ruins in her battle form.
"I escaped from the evil doll. Now she is not only evil, but also stupid. And I am smart. I have a lot of metal, and it is mine, and other creatures do not have this."
Kyotyoryon flew towards the forest, but only managed to reach the edge of the ruins. A white and blue electric bird flew out from behind a partially destroyed wall.
The spirit of metal dodged the strange creature. The bird flew a few dozen steps, but then turned around and went to attack the enemy.
Kyotyoryon decided that the threat had passed, so she did not expect the next attack. The electric bird crashed into the metal spirit's body and exploded...
… Kyotyoryon, on a stone block in an almost human form, writhed from the electric shocks. Her back arched and then straightened. Her chest shook as if she was about to leave the metal corset dress. Her arms and legs were thrown up – they, apparently, also wanted to be "free".
"I'm first," a voice said somewhere in the ruins. "Sis, you lost."
A doll with a blue bandage on her nose, long purple hair, and an apron-armor made of dark blue rubber plates came out from behind a half-ruined stone column.
"She's strong, like my sis and me," the doll looked at the character's breast. "But it's good that she's made of metal."
A doll's head with pink hair appeared from behind the wall, wearing a mask without holes for eyes and a mouth. She silently looked at the horned girl, who was shaking from the electric shocks, and then moved to her in a purple aura.
"I defeated her," the doll with purple hair "boasted." "Now it's your turn."
A yellow energy ball appeared in the hand of the doll with pink hair.
"What are you doing, Toloruchan?" the purple-haired doll asked.
The ball took the form of a small energy flower, which fit in the palm of the summoner's hand.
"I don't think this is what we were asked for," the purple-haired doll said.
A virtual screen with text appeared above Toloruchan's head. The purple-haired doll paused to read it...
Meanwhile, the energy flower opened and released a multitude of yellow energy spores…
… The current that was hitting Kyotyoryon disappeared. Her arms and legs stopped twitching, but her chest was still swaying by inertia.
"That evil doll is somewhere here," was the first thought of the spirit of metal after returning to its previous state. "I need to break her so she can't do anything to me."
Kyotyoryon rolled a few steps towards the forest to stand in a safe place, and accidentally saw something pink in front of her…
The spirit of metal instantly rose to her feet and released short blades from the bracelets on her hands. A doll with pink hair stood in front of the character.
"You are an evil doll!" several metal needles appeared above Kyotyoryon's head. "But... not that one, but another one..."
In fact, it was not Yuehei who stood in front of the spirit of metal. The only thing Toloruchan had in common with "that evil doll" was the color of her hair.
Two nut shells partially hid a breast the size of a human head. A green liana with large leaves entangled her hair. A skirt of large oval leaves reached the middle of the thighs, and from there a green liana stretched up to the navel, which then continued to the shoulders and joined there with pink hair.
"You are a different doll," Kyotyoryon's eyes widened. "I haven't seen you before."
The screen turned to the spirit of metal, but with new text.
"You took the lightning off me," Kyotyoryon concluded based on the text she had read. "But that doesn't make you good. You're with the evil dolls."
The text disappeared, and was then replaced by a new one.
"Why should I forgive your sister?" Kyotyoryon looked at the doll with purple hair. "She hit me with a really bad lightning. It hurts. So I'll cut the purple doll, and then you, because you helped me."
Several metal blades appeared around Kyotyoryon.
"Toloruchan, you did something wrong," the doll with purple hair said. "Wait, I'll fix it."
An electric aura appeared around the purple-haired doll…
Kyotyoryon saw the blades that were "hanging" in the air fall into the empty space where the target had been just recently, and then heard a loud crack from the side.
The spirit of metal turned her head towards the source of the sound and saw an electric spear a step away from her own face, held by a doll in an electric aura...
Kyotyoryon instantly jumped back a few steps.
"Something is holding me," the electric doll turned her head towards the forest. "Wrench, is that you?"
The tree ferns and bushes at the edge of the forest moved. Kyotyoryon recovered a little from her fear and felt the presence of metal in the forest.
"This is the thing that the man with the hole instead of a nose had. He is coming here."
The bushes parted, and a small wrench appeared from there, along with a leg in a black stocking and a boot...