"Unana".
The archer felt a vibration behind her, and then saw a blue translucent energy dome that covered her and Kimchan.
"What's happening?"
Unana wiped her tears with the sleeve of her jacket, and then turned around: behind the barrier dome stood Yueret in an energy aura, with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.
"Were we attacked by cold lizards?"
"No," Yueret looked at the sword. "I don't know what it is. It hides and attacks from there."
"It's a girl," was the little sister's first thought.
Yueret looked at the water, but didn't notice anything:
"Maybe I just imagined it? It was just a cold lizard."
But something told Yueret that it was too early to deactivate the weapon and aura. And he soon became convinced of this.
Something big was approaching from behind. Yueret turned around and used his shield to reflect a water bubble the size of his own head. The vibration of energy caused the bubble to burst and release many water droplets, which first froze in the air, turned into sharp ice crystals, and then continued to attack.
The aura on Yueret's shield turned into a dome-shaped barrier that completely surrounded the summoner. Ice crystals hit the vibrating walls and then crumbled.
"These skills are too unusual," Yueret noted. "They can change when interacting with the enemy's skills. I've never seen anything like this before. I haven't even read about it. This creature is really weird."
There was a sound similar to the sound of boiling water. Yueret looked at the water near the edge of the platform and noticed many bubbles rising up and gradually increasing in size...
"That's ending," Yueret looked at his sister, who was kneeling inside the barrier and did not understand what was happening.
Gradually, more and more bubbles appeared, and soon they almost covered the sky above the artificial island.
"If they all explode, the barriers won't hold," Yueret thought. "Even if I use the Barrier of the External Spirit, which is the strongest, the enemy will simply create new bubbles."
Yueret struck the shield with his sword. A bright symbol appeared in the middle of the shield, which stood out well even against the background of the energy aura...
... The bubbles reached their maximum size and began to collide with each other. Several explosions occurred, which released several portions of ice fragments...
The barrier withstood the attack, but then the worst happened. The bubbles simultaneously fell onto the platform and covered it with a huge mass of water...
… Unana found herself on the seashore and at first couldn't understand what was happening. Kimchan was lying next to her in the form of a burning puppy, and Yueret stood a few steps away in an energetic aura. His eyes were emitting a bright glow.
Unana looked at the sea where her brother was looking and soon realized what had happened. The stone platform was covered by a blue dome-shaped barrier, but it was opaque, filled with a large amount of energy.
"This is the Barrier of the External Spirit, Yueret's strongest skill," Unana thought. "It's almost impossible to break through because it contains the data of the one who uses this skill. That means… Yueret's consciousness is there now, and his body is here."
Unana approached her brother, but he did not notice her. He stared motionlessly at the barrier, as if he was deeply fascinated by this spectacle.
"It's useless to talk to Yueret now. If his eyes are glowing and the barrier is so big and opaque, then he definitely used the Barrier of the External Spirit. Then I can only wait until Yueret runs out of energy. Sorry, brother, I couldn't save you. But I'll definitely save you next time."
Unana's gaze shifted to the sea waves. The girl felt sad and decided to take a little break. But suddenly, something gray appeared from the water...
Unana shuddered and soon found a bow with an electric arrow in her hands.
"No, I can't do this now," the archer thought in fear. "This is that creature. I have to run. Where is Kimchan?"
Unana looked at her pet. Kimchan was lying on the shore in the form of a puppy and was no longer burning, only smoking. The character's eyes were closed, and it seemed that she was simply sleeping.
Meanwhile, the creature was approaching. The top of its head with blue-green hair and a gray scaly cap on top appeared from the water.
Unana aimed her bow at the creature, grabbed the bowstring, but then simply couldn't pull it. Her brain told her that there was no point in resisting, but her body continued to follow the algorithm laid down by nature.
The lower part of the face appeared from the water. Unana lowered her bow. The electric arrow hit the snow between the rocks and disappeared.
… The neck appeared from the water, and then the chest, the lower part of which was covered by gray scales. This was the beginning of the creature's costume.
"This is not a man," the fear inside Unana increased.
The girl came out onto the shore. The scales formed something like a dress, which began from the middle of the chest and ended at the middle of the thighs. The knees and elbows were covered by blue knee pads with green spikes. The feet were under the water and were not visible.
"You are brown," the girl said.
"Is she talking to me or to Kimchan?" Unana looked at the puppy, which was still lying in the snow with his eyes closed.
"You're brown," the girl repeated.
The archer turned her gaze to the creature that had emerged from the sea and realized that it was looking right at her.
"Me?" Unana asked.
"Yup, you," the girl nodded. "The creator said that if two brown bears come to that stone thing, I should meet them."
"But there are three of us."
"Why did I say that?" Unana looked at Kimchan. "For some reason, I say everything I think about."
"It's not a bear cub," the girl answered. "It's a character created in the "Mausoleum of Nature", like me."
"What?"
"You don't know that you can create a character in a program and then transfer it to the real world?"
"Uh..."
The girl turned away and looked at the stone platform in the sea. The energy barrier was already flickering and it didn't have long to go.
"Creator, why didn't you warn me that the bear cubs were so stupid?" the girl asked.
"We're not bear cubs," Unana objected.
"You are brown, that's why you are bear cubs," the girl turned to the "bear cub."
"Have you ever seen bears?"
"I haven't seen them before, but I see them now. You look like the creator."
"What?"
Unana jumped in surprise. The barrier above the stone platform disappeared. At the same moment, her older brother's aura deactivated, his eyes went out, and he fell on the sand.
"Can you repeat what you said?" Unana asked.
"You look like the creator," the girl repeated. "He told me to meet the two bear cubs if they landed on that stone thing."
"It's definitely dad," Unana thought. "But what is he planning? Why is he hiding so much from us?"
"I forgot to introduce myself," the girl said. "My name is Timnichan. I am the spirit of the cold lizard."
"Are you a spirit?" Unana asked.
Timnichan took a few steps forward, and then stuck out a thick blue tongue that reached her chest.
"I understand," Unana turned away. "You're a girl."
"Eh?" Timnichan put her tongue in her mouth.
"You want to kill Yueret because you feed on male humans."
The lizard girl lowered her head, and then giggled:
"I thought people stopped believing in these twenty years ago. It's obvious that you don't leave the house."
"That's not true," Unana looked down and blushed. "I walk in the yard in the summer because in the winter Yueret makes me wear a lot of clothes."
"So the second bear cub's name is Yueret? He's very strong. Even I had a hard time, and I have an advantage in water."
Unana shuddered, and then noticed that she was holding the bow again, but without an arrow.
"This is a passive skill," the archer thought. "Why does it activate at the most inopportune moment?"
"Why did you attack us?" Unana took a step back. "You almost killed us."
"The main thing is that I met you," Timnichan smiled with her tongue hanging out.
***
Itinit and Noru were sitting in a thicket of bushes on the mountainside. From there, they could see a stone platform below, surrounded by the remains of walls and columns.
"Do you feel something?" Itinit asked.
"So far I can only feel you, master," Noru sniffed the air. "And some hairy ones... Maybe before that scary one comes, I'll go down and look at them?"
"No. This scary one is too scary, if not for you, then for your cold almost-sister."
Noru groaned, then lay down on her stomach and rested her chin on the ground, like a real dog. Her ears dropped and her limbs relaxed.
"He must come," Itinit thought and looked at the stone platform below. "I sent a message through the doll, and he agreed to come himself, without the doll. I said that I would give the coffin only if he came himself."
Before the enemy arrived, Itinit decided to look at the chat through which he communicated with his allies, but only managed to open a virtual screen.
A rustling sound was heard in the forest, which greatly frightened Itinit. He immediately looked at Noru, but the dog girl did not react to the sound from the thicket, because she was busy with an important matter.
"Why did I take Noru?" Itinit thought and summoned the hilt of his "sword". "She's useless at best and a nuisance at worst. But it's too late. I can't kick her out, especially in a situation like this."
The rustling sounds grew louder. Noru continued to sleep and did not react to what was happening. Itinit could only look at the bushes and wait for what would appear from there...
Something really strange crawled out of the bushes. It was the head of an animal, covered in dark fur, with a trunk and small horns on its head.
"What the…" Itinit 'froze' in place.
Of course, Itinit was glad that a scary man without a carrot nose didn't crawl out of the bushes, but this animal seemed so strange that the guy couldn't move, as if that same doll with pink hair was looking at him.
The animal grunted, and then disappeared into the undergrowth. The rustling sounds resumed, but became quieter and quieter. Only then did Itinit finally recover from the shock.
"The southern continent is too unexplored, so it's normal to meet such a creature," the creator of the dog girls thought. "I hope this animal is not created in "Mausoleum of Nature". I just don't know it."
Itinit returned to the screen, but again did not have time to enter the chat. Noru, who was sleeping quietly on the ground, suddenly raised her ears, and then opened her eyes.
"Creator, something is flying here from above, from the river," the dog girl said. "It has the element of air."
Noru finished her report, then closed her eyes, lowered her ears, and continued her important work. Itinit looked up at the sky to see if the enemy had appeared, and suddenly felt fear.
"No wonder Etinnei is afraid of him. He hasn't even appeared yet, and I'm already scared."
But then Itinit remembered Taikuron, and the fear disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
"At least this creature can't read minds. I hope everything goes according to plan. Of course, I know that Noru and the plan are incompatible, but what if a miracle happens, like on the island?"
Itinit remembered Sanachan. For a moment, it seemed to him that a purple glowing mushroom appeared in the sky…
But in reality, the "mushroom" turned out to be a clot of energy that flew across the sky. Itinit activated the aura, from which the energy was transferred to the handle and formed that very "sword".
"Are you looking for me?" a voice came from behind.
Itinit turned around abruptly and saw a doll's head with yellow hair in front of him. It eyes glowed with a purple aura, and a tongue similar to that of a person with a carrot nose hung from her mouth.
"I told you to come alone," Itinit said. "But you sent the doll's head instead."
"What difference does it make to you whether it's the doll's head or me?" asked the voice from the head's mouth. "I won't give the coffin to the doll's head."
"If there are two heads, will you give it to them?"
"What?"
Itinit looked up and noticed that same clot of purple energy that was flying straight at him and turned out to be just an aura around the head of a doll with blue-green hair.
"I…" Itinit tried to answer, but didn't have time.
A fiery comet crashed into the head with blue-green hair. The air filled with red sparks and black smoke...
The tree ferns that grew under the explosion site bent almost to the ground, but remained undamaged, and the talking head flew into pieces.
"Noru, why..." Itinit sighed. "It's too early."
But the dog girl was too active and frivolous to listen to her creator. After the explosion, she fell as a comet onto a stone platform among the ruins, where she took on her former almost human form and went out.
"I won, master!" Noru shouted. "Let's go home! You promised…"
Suddenly Noru felt that she couldn't move, or even activate her aura. The only movement that was available to her was facial expressions, so the dog girl immediately showed her teeth and growled.
Meanwhile, Itinit heard the cries of his pet and realized that he had to act somehow, even if not according to plan. The guy looked down and saw a man in dark clothes with a hood on the stone platform behind the remains of the wall, pointing a wrench at the dog girl's back.
"Master, it looks like I'm stuck…" Noru sighed.
A few moments later, the dog girl moved her tail and realized that she could move. She turned around and saw a small blue energy ball with a spark inside in front of her.
"He's somewhere here," Noru sniffed the air. "It seems to be there..."
Noru activated her elemental aura and flew towards the remains of the stone wall like a comet. It ended, of course, with an explosion that destroyed half the stone platform...
Itinit watched from the bushes on the edge of the cliff. When the smoke cleared, he saw Noru in a fiery aura, which was "hanging" in the air a few steps from the surface, and the same man in the hood stood next to her and held her with a wrench.
"When the explosion happened, he disappeared, and then appeared again," Itinit guessed. "This skill requires high concentration. Who is he?"
Several energy balls with clots of purple energy inside flew out of the forest and headed for the man in the hood. It worked - the creature was forced to let go of Noru and reflect all the objects in turn.
The dog girl immediately took off, turned into a comet, and then sharply flew down...
The fiery comet stopped a few steps from the enemy's head and was about to explode, but he suddenly turned around and stopped it with a wrench.
Another energy ball flew out of the forest, this time empty. The comet, stopped by gravity, quickly rotated and grew in size. The enemy tried to move his hand to the side, but could not, and in the meantime the energy ball was approaching him...
... The comet could not withstand it and exploded. The energy ball passed through a cloud of smoke and sparks, after which it disappeared into the forest.
"It worked," Itinit thought. "Now we need to prevent it from gathering itself, so as not to give up the antenna. But someone else will do that."
Soon sparks flew all over the open space. One of them flew a step away from Itinit, after which it took the form of a dog-girl.
"Is done yet?" Noru looked down from the cliff.
"I don't think so," Itinit answered. "That would be too easy. Dolls are strangely designed: it's easy to cut off a head, arms or legs, but it's very difficult to destroy the body itself."
"But I tried..."
The smoke from the fire gradually cleared, and the dog girl saw the silhouette of a humanoid creature standing in the place of the enemy.
"What?" Noru shouted. "Why is he alive?"
"He's not just alive," Itinit noted. "Look at him carefully."
Soon the smoke cleared completely. Noru looked at her opponent and let out a loud, descending groan...
All that was left of the creature's head were its eyes, which somehow remained in the air under its long black hair and even rotated, as if trying to find its face.