Aibi had not expected such an answer, so she was not ready for the attack. Despite this, the doll's shield attracted the icicle and broke it.

"I don't need an icicle, I need an ice penguin," Aibi said. "You're confused."

"I'll give you ice," Etinnei answered. "Collect the penguin yourself."

The arctic fox girl attacked with a white and blue ice ball from her sleeve. The shield protected Aibi again, this time redirecting the ball into the lake.

The water near the shore turned into a large ice floe. Etinnei noticed this and lifted it above the lake with a wave of her hand.

Aibi finally realized that her opponent had decided to fight and closed her eyes. Etinnei pulled the ice floe towards her, and then jumped on it. The cold from the icy aura that surrounded the arctic fox girl preserved the ice, and it did not melt.

Aibi opened her eyes. Now they were filled with acid. The ice floe under Etinnei's feet began to move in different directions so that the doll could not aim.

But Aibi could not help but shoot. The acid completely filled the eyeballs and could get on the face. Therefore, two streams of green liquid burst out of the doll's eyes, but only hit the coastal rocks.

The ice floe carried Etinnei up, and then to the side. From there, the arctic fox girl shot several icicles surrounded by lightning, but they were again pushed away by the shield.

"Her shield attracts everything that flies at her," Etinnei thought, frightened. "I won't hit it..."

"You're a refrigerator girl, not an ice cream machine," Minniges' voice replied. "Do what you were made to do."

Etinnei noticed that the shield on the doll's elbow was only facing forward, and the back was unprotected. A plan appeared in the character's head.

Aibi shot two more streams of acid from her eyes, but again missed the target. Then the doll decided to take a desperate step. She bowed her head, and the green eyeballs fell out of their slots. An axe appeared in Aibi's hand, which she immediately raised up.

The eyes did not reach the ground, but flew straight at the enemy. A snowflake-shaped shield appeared in front of Etinnei. The first eye hit it and exploded, but dissolved the snowflake itself. The arctic fox girl found herself defenseless against the second green eye flying at her…

... An acid explosion occurred in the air. The green liquid poured onto the shore in several streams and in the form of separate drops and corroded the stones a little.

The axe in Aibi's hand disappeared. A pink glow appeared around the doll, but then it was interrupted by a flash of white-blue energy from behind.

It was Etinnei's skill. The arctic fox girl stood behind the doll and gradually froze it with her hand with a white-blue clot of cold.

“Has anyone dissolved in the acid yet?” Aibi asked.

“No,” Etinnei answered.

“If it hasn't dissolved, I won't get the ice penguin.”

“Don't worry. You'll still have a chance to collect it.”

The ice took over Aibi's torso and limbs, and then rose up to her neck. The doll tried to say something, but couldn't. Instead of words, a wheeze came from under the mask.

"If she freezes, I won't know what she was trying to say," Etinnei was scared.

"Does the refrigerator listen to what creatures that eat ice cream say?" a voice sounded in the character's head.

Etinnei looked to the side and noticed Minniges in front of her, who was looking at her. The arctic fox girl turned her gaze to her opponent.

Aibi completely turned into an ice statue and stopped making sounds. Etinnei let go of her own hand. The icy aura around the character disappeared. The arctic fox girl's clothes changed to summer ones, and her hair turned black again. A bolt of lightning flew out of the sleeve of her top, breaking the statue into many pieces.

"I hope she makes herself a penguin," Etinnei smiled.

The arctic fox girl didn't see that a blue energy "eye" was watching her in the sky, surrounded by a round, translucent barrier. A beam emanated from its "pupil", ending in a hole in the rock.

"Refrigerator girl, get out of here," Etinnei heard a familiar voice.

"What? I defeated this lifeless girl,” the spirit of the arctic fox answered.

"Run! My ice cream will melt."

Etinnei looked around, but saw no one.

“There’s no one here,” the animal girl thought. “It seemed to you.”

"Taikuron has found his other half," a voice similar to Minniges's said.

"What did you say?" Etinnei did not understand. "What other half?"

"Taikuron will cut your head open and get his other half."

“Answer normally, Minniges. Who is this Taikuron?”

A crackling sound of electricity came from above Etinnei's head. The Arctic fox girl looked up and saw a penguin there, similar to Minniges, but with black and white feathers and two thin antennas on the top of its head, between which an electrical discharge accumulated.

"What..." Etinnei was shocked. "Why did you become like this, Minniges?"

The lightning bolt grew and took the form of a ball, and then attacked the animal girl with an electric beam. The snowflake shield worked this time too, but was only able to stop the beam for a few moments.

This was enough time to jump back into the water. Luckily for Etinnei, an icy aura activated around her, freezing a section of the lake and creating an ice floe. On it, the arctic fox girl was able to fly to the neighboring shore, where Tuot was.

The dinosaur looked at the creature in the air and could not believe that it was real.

“It’s here again,” Tuot said.

“Do you know it?” Etinnei asked.

“This is Taikuron. I have met it before. It can walk through walls. We can't handle it.”

"Why does he look like Minniges?" Etinnei thought. "Minniges said something about another me. Is this it?"

"Yes, this is another me," Minniges answered mentally. "It can read your mind. While we were talking, it read your mind and found out that I am in your head."

"What should we do with it?"

"Don't let it open your door."

The voice stopped there. Etinnei noticed the electric penguin disappear over the nearby shore.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Tuot summoned a shield, and then a yellow lizard. Taikuron appeared above the creatures' heads, and then attacked with lightning from a clot between his antennae. Etinnei was saved by a snowflake again, but this time it lasted longer.

The arctic fox girl noticed the balls on the ends of the antennas that emitted a red glow, and remembered that the penguin from a recent memory had such balls.

"Give me my other half," a voice sounded in both Tuot's and Etinnei's heads.

An electric field appeared around Taikuron, from which several clots of lightning emerged. Tuot saw this and grabbed the lizard by the head in fear.

“This skill extracts data from bodies,” the dinosaur’s eyes bulged. “This is the end.”

But Tuot was lying. He had specifically summoned the lizard to counter this ability, having already met it in the cave cafe of Itinit. The touch of the dinosaur's paw activated the lizard, covering it in a yellow aura and emitting the first wave of yellow energy.

Etinnei, unlike her feathered friend, decided to attack. An ice ball flew out of the arctic fox girl's sleeve. The lightning bolts turned into balls, between which weak electric discharges then ran.

The ice ball flew through one of these discharges and disappeared. Etinnei was surprised by this development, and released several icicles in a row from her sleeve. All of them dissolved into thin air as soon as they approached the area of effect of Taikuron's skill.

“It looks like you’re right,” Etinnei looked sadly at her friend. “This is the end. I had fun playing with you both in the game and in life. Thank you, Tuot.”

"She didn't call me a chicken," the dinosaur rejoiced, but then looked at his opponent. "This is probably the best ending for me. I have a girl with ears and a tail next to me. I hope we'll be together in the game, too."

The goodbye scene was interrupted by a bright flash of fire. It threw Taikuron far away. All the electric balls and lightning between them disappeared.

***

Halankuo looked out the window at the endless gray-blue sea. The girl forgot about the dog girl who was curled up on the same seat with her and sleeping, about her friend, even about her character. Now in front of Halankuo there was only the sea and glass.

“Soon there will be the Southern Continent,” Itinit’s voice sounded. “Look ahead. This can only happen once in several lifetimes.”

But Halankuo continued to look at the sea. Soon the outlines of mountains appeared in the front window. Kimchan opened one eye, yawned, and then opened the other.

“Did you feel the energy?” Itinit smiled.

“There’s too much of it,” the dog girl answered. "She keeps me awake."

Voices nearby made Halankuo turn away from one window and look ahead, to the other window. The girl's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened, like her friend and pet.

A narrow rocky peninsula appeared, jutting out into the sea. Behind it, a shore with yellow-white sand appeared, adjacent to green forests.

"This is the closest point of the Southern Continent to the Northern Continent," Itinit said. "This is some kind of peninsula. I don't remember what it's called. There used to be an energy bridge here that connected the continents.”

“I read about this somewhere,” Halankuo said. “They tried to settle the Southern Continent.”

“But they couldn’t,” Itinit continued. “I don’t know why. But even the southern coast of the Northern Continent is now abandoned. It would be strange if civilization remained on the Southern Continent.”

The "metal bird" flew to the edge of the peninsula and continued moving towards the shore. Halankuo suddenly remembered her character and opened the map of the "Mausoleum of Nature".

The red dot was in the mountains, near the source of the river. Halankuo showed the map to her friend.

"The character may be in another place," Itinit warned. “The map shows the location with a delay. Although I am surprised that it is shown at all. There is no civilization in these places, but “Mausoleum of Nature” server obviously exists. This is weird.”

"Does this program have a server?" Halankuo was surprised. "I didn't even think about it.

“The server is not alone. There must be at least several. I tried to find a server before, but I couldn't. For that, you need an antenna built into your brain. I don't have an antenna. I can try asking one creature, but it hasn't left its shelter for a long time because the signal is too strong.”

“You mean the horns?”

“Yea. Horns are a very bad thing. I wouldn't want to have them.”

The "metal bird" flew over the peninsula and then hovered over the sandy shore. Itinit tried to understand what had happened and found Kimchan at his feet, pressing one of the lower buttons with her hand.

“Let’s g-o-o-o home, master,” the dog girl said.

“It’s you who needs to go to the place,” Itinit objected. “Why did you come here?”

Kimchan looked at her creator with a stupid dog-like gaze and groaned.

“You’re a dog, so you should know where your place is,” Itinit said.

“Uuu…,” Kimchan thought. “Yes.”

The dog girl changed into her puppy form, returned to the back seat and groaned loudly. Itinit immediately noticed this and turned to the character.

“We’ll finish here quickly and return to your sister,” Itinit promised.

Kimchan transformed into an almost human form in order to answer.

“Is that… tru-u-ue?”

“In any case, I need to return to the island,” Itinit explained. “I gave Taikuron and the dolls to one creature, but it still hasn't responded. I'm sure it already has them, but for some reason it doesn't respond.”

“It suffocated in own bubble,” Kimchan suggested.

“That explains everything,” Itinit agreed. “But if you think about it seriously... But, now what's more important is why we came here.”

The "metal bird" flew a little along the coast, discovered a small river, and then moved along its current into the interior of the mainland.

Halankuo saw low mountains with oval peaks covered with dense fern forests in the window, and forgot about her character again. There were no buildings or structures like those on the Northern Continent, only endless forests and endless mountain ranges that covered them.

The river under the aircraft became narrow, entered a canyon and was interrupted by a high waterfall. Halankuo immediately noticed it and could no longer think. A new world opened up before the girl, completely opposite to the one she lived in.

“Creator, it looks like we won’t be able to land,” Kimchan noted. “Everything here is overgrown.”

“There is definitely one place,” Itinit said. “But it’s too special.”

A gray flat surface appeared among the vegetation. The “metal bird” flew up to her and began to descend.

“What is it?” Kimchan asked.

“I don’t know,” Itinit answered. “But it’s definitely possible to land there.”

The flying machine landed on this strange place. Itinit left the "metal bird" first and looked carefully at the surface under his feet.

It was a stone space that hung over the forest. Itinit approached the edge and noticed the column on which it was supported.

"This is half a floor of a former building," Itinit said. "Be careful, you can fall through here."

“Creator, why did you stop here?” Kimchan groaned.

Itinit turned around and saw the dog girl, who was dragging Halankuo by the hand.

“If it weren’t for this place, we wouldn’t have sat down at all,” Itinit said. “The southern continent is wild. There are no equipped places for landing flying machine. And it is generally impossible to land on these semblances of trees that make up the forests here.”

“We could burn the forest and then sit down,” Kimchan suggested.

"It's a good thing I took Kimchan, not her sister," Itinit thought. “Noru would have set the forest on fire first, and then thought about why.”

"We can't attract attention," Itinit explained. “I have a feeling that we are not the only civilized beings in these places.”

Halankuo finally remembered her character and opened the map of the “Mausoleum of Nature". The red dot was very close, on top of the mountain that hung over the ruins.

"She's there," Halankuo’s heart rate increased. "I need to get to her without being noticed."

"Don't go there without us," Itinit warned. "It's dangerous to get lost in this place."

"But together we'll be too noticeable," Halankuo countered. "If Kyotyoryon finds me, she won't want to talk."

"You'll try to talk to her without being noticed?" Itinit suggested.

“I will somehow,” Halankuo answered. "Leave me alone. She's my character.”

Itinit wanted to stop her friend, but changed his mind at the last moment. Halankuo activated her purple aura, after which she descended from the ruins of the building.

“Creator, let’s go home,” Kimchan asked plaintively. “You promised...”

“Yes, but...” Itinit looked at the top of the mountain. “I wanted to wait for Halankuo. Don't you feel anything?”

Kimchan turned away and moaned like a dog.

“I understand,” Itinit guessed. “There’s someone there, but you don’t want to talk.”

“I… I don’t want you to leave me again,” the dog girl said quietly.

“Come with me,” Itinit suggested. “We’ll keep an eye on Halankuo. You like keep an eye someone.”

Kimchan turned to the creator with her mouth open, from which hung a long dog tongue.

Meanwhile, Halankuo reached the mountainside. Dense tree vegetation completely hid her from any view. The girl again opened the map of the “Mausoleum of Nature”. The red dot was near the blue one, for the first time in a long time.

Halankuo closed the program and then slowly rose through the air to the top.

When she was just a little way from the top, Halankuo felt a strong sense of unease and stopped. She suddenly realized that she was not ready to meet her character, but she could not return to the flying machine either. She had to carefully move through the tree ferns and vines to see the top of the mountain.

Finally, near the very top of the fern, a view of the summit opened up. It was flat, but not as overgrown as the slopes. Most of it was occupied by the ruins of something resembling a fortress, with the remains of walls and buildings, but there were no creatures there.

"I forgot that the map showed the location inaccurately," Halankuo remembered. "I need to get closer."

The girl descended to the ground and then flew along the slope to the top. But there was no one there either. The ruins seemed abandoned.

Halankuo opened the "Mausoleum of Nature" map again. The red dot was almost directly below the blue one.

"Where is it?" the girl was surprised. "Maybe down there? There should be an entrance to the dungeon somewhere."

After some time, the entrance was found. It turned out to be a dark hole in the rock, with partially destroyed stone steps leading to it.

Halankuo took a step forward, and then screamed loudly...

... A doll's head with blue hair, an open mouth and a long tongue appeared from the hole.