The horned girl didn't answer. Her head continued to move upward, and pulled her neck along with it, and then the rest of her body...
Etinnei fell to the ground. There was no water in this place, so the passive skill that created the ice floe did not work. The fall was softened by the hood and the fur top itself, so the arctic fox girl did not feel anything.
"Your creator did a good job with you," a voice came from above.
A girl's head leaned over Etinnei, wearing a black helmet with two cutouts on the sides, from which black horns protruded. Red glowing eyes looked straight at the arctic fox girl, and the creature's hands held Etinnei's legs.
"I know you," the arctic fox girl said. "You are a cow girl from the island."
"How do you know me? I don't think we've met."
The cow girl tilted one of Etinnei's legs forward to make sure it wasn't a doll. But at that moment, the passive skill kicked in - a clot of wind appeared near Etinnei's foot, as if in a hand...
The horned girl was thrown into the forest. The clot of wind near the Arctic fox girl's foot disappeared, and the foot fell to the ground. Etinnei barely felt the lower part of her body, so she did not immediately understand what had happened, but she noticed that nothing was holding her anymore. The Arctic fox girl looked around in search of her opponent, and when she couldn't find it, she rose to her feet.
"You will not leave here," a voice sounded, this time from below.
A small stone pillar, like a column, emerged from the ground, but Etinnei noticed it and jumped back.
"You were good before," the Arctic fox girl said. "Why are you doing something to me now? I haven't done anything to you."
Etinnei turned around and saw another mini-column in front of her, on which a horned girl had landed. Her clothes seemed to imitate the appearance of a cow. Her legs were protected by black fur boots in the form of hooves, and above the middle of her thighs began a black fur dress that continued almost to her shoulders, from under her helmet, in addition to her horns, protruded long black hair that reached her knees.
"What server?" Etinnei asked. "I don't know such a creature. Is it furry or horned?"
"You don't look like someone who could monitor the server," the cow girl said. "But you saw this flying thing and you can tell someone about it."
"I won't tell anyone. I'm an animal girl."
"If you are an animal girl, this does not mean that you do not understand anything, and you can be trusted," the horned girl continued. "So I'm sorry. I'll have to make you cease to exist because you're non-living."
"Why am I non-living?" Etinnei released icicles from her sleeves. "I'm alive."
"No. You were made in the "Mausoleum of Nature", just like me. I don't want to cease your existence, so I apologize for this. At least then you won't mind."
"Why? When we first met, you told me not to tell anyone about the island. I didn't tell anyone."
"I'm sorry. I'm not the Ayika you knew. I'm just a copy that guards this server. I was created by the real Ayika because she can't guard all the servers at once."
"So you don't remember anything..." Etinnei bowed her head and almost cried.
"The copy does not retain the memories of the original, because it has no connection with it. Otherwise, the copy would be very vulnerable and unsuitable for guarding the server."
"What server? I don't understand what you're talking about."
A weapon appeared in Ayika's hand, a mixture of a sword and a spear with a black handle.
"Here," the cow girl pointed her weapon at the skull of a three-horned dinosaur. "This is the "Mausoleum of Nature" server."
Etinnei looked at the skull, which turned to face her.
"There…" the arctic fox girl said quietly. "Did I appear there?"
"All the characters created in the "Mausoleum of Nature" appeared there," Ayika answered. "All the data associated with us is there."
"Does this thing contain everything?"
"I can't say. There is not only one server in the world. I don't know how many there are, but it's definitely not the only one."
"I understand. I won't tell anyone. I won't even remember. I'll go."
"Ayika jumped off the column, and her hand touched the ground. A black circle with a symbol inside appeared under the cow girl."
Etinnei felt her butt hit something hard, and turned around. It turned out to be a mini-column, which was supposed to prevent escape.
"I need to run. She won't chase me far because she's guarding the skull."
The arctic fox girl tried to run, but she couldn't move. Mini-columns surrounded her and blocked her inside the barrier that had formed.
The fear inside Etinnei grew stronger. The Arctic fox girl could still think, but she was no longer able to do anything. Her body did not obey her, although Etinnei mentally imagined how she would use her skills.
Ayika raised the spear-sword up. Several stone balls flew out of the ground, which then "hung" in the air.
"It doesn't hurt," the cow girl said. "That's what my creator said."
Ayika lowered her weapon. Stone balls flew at Etinnei. Several explosions occurred, raising a cloud of dust into the air.
"That's all," Ayika looked at the skull of the three-horned dinosaur. "You see, creator, I protect you, even if I'm in different places."
The cow girl closed one eye, smiled and put her hand to her cheek.
The cloud of dust cleared; at the site of the explosion stood Etinnei in her winter form, surrounded by four snowflake-shaped shields. The mini-columns were gone – they had turned into piles of dust.
"This is a passive skill," Ayika frowned. "Your creator prepared you well. That's why it won't be easy for me with you."
Etinnei looked at the snowflake in front of her, dripping water, and realized that her creator had saved her again. This lowered her fear level a little and gave her hope.
"I have to try," the arctic fox girl thought. "I can move again. I have to run before the shields melt. But how did it? Cow girl uses earth skills, so I can't walk on the ground."
The snowflakes were getting thinner and more and more water was dripping from them. Soon they started to shimmer and were about to disappear.
Ayika decided to wait until the enemy's shields melted before attacking. The cow girl didn't notice how she gave the enemy a chance to think for a while.
Etinnei knew she had little time and tried to come up with an escape plan that would definitely work. She released icicles from her sleeve to confuse the enemy, and then activated her ice aura.
Ayika went underground. Etinnei realized that this creature would appear at her feet, so she deactivated the ice aura. The snowflake shields, deprived of support, dissolved into thin air.
Etinnei lifted one of her legs and then brought it down hard. A circular flow of wind appeared under the feet of the Arctic fox girl, which threw her above the treetops.
The next moment, black bull horns appeared from the ground. All Ayika could do was watch the enemy in the air.
"She's going to fall now," the cow girl thought. "She doesn't have the thing that flies."
Ayika's expectations were justified. Etinnei did not take into account that she could not move freely through the air. This ability only lifted her body up, but did not allow her to fly. Therefore, after a few moments, the arctic fox girl felt that she was falling, and at the same time, the fear inside her grew stronger...
"Why am I so stupid?" this could have been Etinnei's last thought, but...
A bright flash of fire flashed in front of the Arctic fox girl, after which she found herself riding a large brown dog, surrounded by flames.
"It's Noru," the fear inside Etinnei instantly turned to joy. "She's come for me."
But soon the joy gave way to disappointment. Instead of flying towards the sea, the dog flew down. Etinnei realized that her friend had decided to battle.
"Noru, don't!" the Arctic fox girl shouted.
But the dog did not listen to her friend. Etinnei closed her eyes and began to expect that she would feel pain from hitting the ground, but...
The fiery dog stopped near the skull of the three-horned dinosaur and "hung" in the air, although it continued to burn. The powerful vibration from the aura not only did not allow it to move further, but also to go around the obstacle...
The fire dog was torn into a multitude of sparks that scattered across the clearing, and the skull continued to spin around its axis and "watch" such a stupid battle scene with eyes filled with blue energy.
Noru and Etinnei were thrown to the edge of the clearing. The animal girls were able to land on their feet, but they were clearly not happy about it.
"Noru, you are stupider than Tuot," Etinnei admitted.
Noru looked at her animal friend, but not angrily, as she looked at other creatures, but sadly.
"I'm sorry," the dog-girl bowed her head and tucked her tail. "I wanted to punish those who offend the animal girls."
"Why?" Etinnei couldn't understand.
"Animal girls cannot be offended. They are the cutest and best!"
"Uh... One of them is definitely not like that."
"Who is?"
"Look down."
Etinnei was right. Noru looked at the ground and saw black metal horns sticking out from there.
"What is that?" the dog girl moved her eyebrows along with her ears.
"Horns," Etinnei answered. "They'll come out now."
The Arctic fox girl was right again. The horns came out of the ground and revealed a helmet along with red eyes.
"They glow," Noru knelt down and tilted her head to her shoulder.
"Yup," Etinnei answered. "Aren't you scared?"
The head emerged from the ground. Noru leaned over, sniffed one of the horns, and then smiled.
"She has horns," Noru noted. "I'm not scared."
"Why?"
"She's a cow girl. She's like us. You don't have to be scared of her."
Etinnei decided that there was no point in explaining to Noru, so she jumped back and waited for the dog girl to realize the danger herself.
That moment soon arrived. Several mini-columns emerged from the ground and surrounded Noru. But Ayika's head did not pull her body along with it, but disappeared into the ground.
"Where is she?" Noru looked around. "Why are these things here?"
"That's her skill!" Etinnei shouted. "She..."
The arctic fox girl couldn't continue. A hand came out of the ground and grabbed one of her legs.
"Hey, you, don't touch her pawwy!" Noru immediately turned her attention to her opponent. "She's my sister, even if she's cold!"
But the hand did not listen to the dog girl's request. She pulled Etinnei's foot down, and soon the Arctic fox girl's foot was underground.
Noru showed her teeth and growled. The dog girl was surrounded by a fiery aura, after which she was supposed to fly to save her friend, but...
Noru remained standing in place.
"Why can't I fly?" the dog girl wondered.
"These things..." Etinnei pointed her sleeve at one of the mini-columns. "They interfere with movement."
"I'll..."
Noru punched one of the mini-columns with her fist, but it only shook.
"Eh?" Noru's face twisted, her eyebrows raised, and her tail rose with them.
The dog girl's aura became brighter, and then her body exploded. The mini-columns were blown into many pieces by the sparks that scattered across the clearing.
Meanwhile, Etinnei sank knee-deep into the ground. The arctic fox girl tried to resist – she released icicles from her sleeves, but they simply crumbled upon contact with her hand.
"Why doesn't anything work on her?" Etinnei's fear turned to surprise. "It doesn't happen that nothing works. Even in the dumbest games, all skills do at least something. Maybe I should try lightning? Lightning affects everything."
Etinnei shot a bolt of lightning from her sleeve, but it simply deflected from her hand and headed into the ground. The arctic fox girl sighed, and then closed her eyes.
"She's going to drag me underground now, and I'll suffocate," Etinnei seemed to have figured out her enemy's cunning plan.
A white-blue ice ball appeared in the arctic fox girl's hand, surrounded by white vapors.
"You can try the Northern Ice Cream. It doesn't do anything, it just freezes."
Etinnei released the ball. White icy vapors spread in a radius of several steps around the character.
"I can move. Did it work?"
Of course, the Arctic fox girl almost didn't feel her legs, but she noticed that nothing was dragging her down anymore.
"It worked," Etinnei put her palms to her cheeks.
A hand, covered in ice, was sticking out of the ground. The animal girl did not release the icicle at her, but simply stepped on it with her foot...
The hand shattered into pieces that began to melt...
Etinnei noticed that she was no longer knee-deep in the ground, as if the hand had not been pulling her anywhere. But despite this, the feeling of fear returned.
Etinnei turned around sharply and saw a mini-column in front of her, slowly moving out from under the ground. The arctic fox girl tried to jump back, but a bright flash of fire beat her to it...
A few moments later, Etinnei was flying on a large fire dog, but she was no longer landing on the clearing with the skull.
"Still, Noru is not as stupid as Tuot," Etinnei smiled. "I shouldn't have told her that. I have to tell her that it's not true."
Already on the seashore, where the only dangerous creatures were crabs, Etinnei told the dog girl what she thought about her. Noru pounced on her friend and began to lick her cheeks.
"Did the creator teach you this too?" the arctic fox girl asked.
"Uh..." Noru raised her head to answer. "I didn't think about it. I just licked and that's it. I don't understand why I should think about it. It's better to lick!"
"Perhaps you want to eat me?"
Noru flinched, and then jumped a few steps away from her friend.
"Sorry," Etinnei said. "I didn't mean to say that."
"You do things too and don't think about it."
"I'm an animal girl."
"Yup, animal girls are the cutest and best!"
Noru jumped to continue her work, but suddenly hit a snowflake shield that appeared in front of her friend.
"Sorry," Etinnei smiled. "You're funny."
Noru lay on a snowflake with her arms and legs spread wide, her tongue hanging out and stuck to the icy surface.
***
Sitihi, Nyonyokyo and Toloruchan landed in purple auras at the edge of the ruins, near the remains of a stone wall.
"I'll go first," Sitihi said. "You stay here. When she appears, come out of hiding."
"I think she has already noticed us," Nyonyokyo said. "We landed too close."
The doll with the shovel peeked out from behind the wall, and then turned her head to the other dolls:
"I don't see anything."
"I see," Nyonyokyo pointed to the side. "She's there."
"You're not looking there," Sitihi objected.
"Turn your head," Nyonokyo suggested.
Sitihi looked where her companion was pointing. Above one of the stone columns, wrapped in chains, a doll with long pink hair was "hanging" in the air.
"That's the healing doll that took my big sister's character", the doll with the shovel said.
"She looks like us," Nyonokyo noted. "That means she's our sis too."
The doll in chains waved her hand, after which a virtual screen with a text field appeared in front of her.
"Why did you come? We agreed," a text of pink symbols appeared on the screen.
"I know," Sitihi answered. "I came to take the spirit of metal."
"You gave her to me. We agreed," new symbols appeared on the screen, and the old ones disappeared.
"I gave her for one day," Sitihi continued. "That day has passed. You must return the character to me."
"My brother needs the spirit of metal," the symbols on the screen changed again. "He was conducting an experiment, but he didn't have time to finish it completely. So you'll have to wait. Do you want me to cure someone else as compensation?"
"Sis only wants her character," Sitihi thought. "That means I should only get the spirit of metal, and not agree to anything else."
"Give me the spirit of metal," Sitihi pointed a shovel at her interlocutor. "I have two very strong dolls with me. If you don't do what I said, they will force you to."
The doll in chains sank down onto the column, and then closed its eyes.