"This doesn't look like an animal," Tuot thought. "But they're so strange around here that I wouldn't be surprised if it were a flying shell beetle."
Only when the "cone" began to creak and then open did the dinosaur realize he had made a mistake. He activated his aura and tried to escape, but it was too late.
The "tree cone" released a multitude of metal needles. Tuot was saved by the shield that appeared on his elbow, but only partially. Some of the needles passed through the aura and got stuck in the feathers.
"Itinit!" Tuot shouted. "Here is the same doll!"
"It's a robot," Itinit's voice answered. "If it were that same doll, you wouldn't be talking anymore."
Tuot looked towards his friend, because he expected him to come to the rescue. But Itinit himself was busy battling the metal flower that was flying around him and releasing clots of blue energy.
Only Noru was free, but she did not want to help the dinosaur. She watched as her creator hid inside the energy barrier and realized that he was not in any danger.
"I'll go return Etinnei while the dinosaur is busy," the dog girl thought, after which she caught fire and flew into a dark hole.
Tuot realized that no one would help him, so he took cover behind the remains of a stone wall. The robot, resembling a "tree cone", stopped, closed its plates, and then hung in the air for several dozen moments.
This saved the dinosaur. During this time, he managed to remember everything he used in the battle with the doll and the man with the carrot nose, and almost came up with a plan. Therefore, when the pine cone appeared again from above, Tuot responded with energy feathers from the tail part of the aura.
The robot did not expect a sudden attack, but managed to dodge almost all the feathers. Only one of them touched the plate of the "cone", but it was enough to force such a formidable opponent to retreat.
Tuot looked up and could not believe his luck. For a moment, he forgot about the animal girls, the game and where he was. The dinosaur was simply glad that the enemy had escaped...
When it became clear that the "cone" would not return, Tuot peeked out from his hiding place and saw Itinit inside a spherical blue barrier. The enemy, an open metal flower without a stem, was flying around and periodically releasing clots and beams of blue energy from the center.
Itinit's barrier withstood the attacks, but small clots of energy appeared inside it.
"The barrier absorbs energy," Tuot thought. "If it accumulates, the barrier can explode."
Gradually, the flower's shots became less and less powerful. Instead of beams and clots, it now released barely noticeable clouds of energy.
Itinit realized that the enemy was exhausted, so he removed the barrier, and then threw an energy ball with an electric clot inside into the air...
The core of the flower lit up with a blue glow to shoot. The ball with lightning approached the target, but at the decisive moment the petals curled up...
The ball exploded and released an electrical bolt that struck the flower but left its core untouched. The robot retreated to the entrance to the dungeon, then disappeared into its darkness.
"Someone is controlling these robots," Itinit guessed. "And that someone is sitting in that hole."
Itinit opened the map of the "Mausoleum of Nature" and made sure that the red mark was located near its blue counterpart.
"It looks like Noru got into a hole. Too bad the map doesn't show where exactly the character is – underground or on the ground. But she's definitely fine. The point isn't even flickering."
"Tuot, come here if you're alive," Itinit began to carefully examine the ruins.
A dinosaur's head appeared from behind the remains of the wall. Itinit noticed it and smiled.
"If you're afraid, your friend will be taken apart," Itinit said. "You don't want to assemble the animal girl, do you?"
"Uh..." Tuot looked down. "I'll mix everything up, and she won't be able to move her ears."
"That's why we need to save our little animals. I don't know what's inside, so I might need your help."
Tuot approached his friend. Soon they were standing at the entrance to the dungeon.
"Do you hear something?" Tuot asked.
"No," Itinit answered. "But this dungeon is probably large. The animals are far from the entrance."
"Maybe they're no longer alive?"
"Do you want to eat them?"
"Uh... I don't want to, but my stomach does."
"So, any outcome will be good for you. If we find your pet dead, you will have very rare meat, and if alive, you will have a friend."
Tuot remembered finding Halankuo sleeping on the floor of his house and thinking she was dead. The dinosaur almost started eating his childhood friend, but luckily he remembered something from the past.
"I don't want to eat my friends," Tuot explained. "Even if my stomach told me to, I'd rather cut it than my friends."
"You sound like a human," Itinit said. "You probably don't even eat dogs."
"Etinnei asked me about this. I had a hard time proving it to her. And your dog girl still doesn't like me because of it."
"It's bad when stereotypes and instincts combine. Maybe if you save the animals, Noru will treat you better."
"At least I just have to survive. You'll be the one saving."
"Okay. Let's go."
Itinit surrounded himself and his friend with a single spherical barrier, after which they entered a dark opening...
The dungeon began with a large empty room. Itinit carefully approached the wall and, thanks to the light from the barrier, was able to make out several carved symbols.
"It says here to go down and then left," the creator of the dog girls read. "But it doesn't say what's there."
"Maybe someone has a bad memory," Tuot suggested.
"Maybe, we need to look at the other walls."
Itinit walked around all the walls, but there were no inscriptions there. However, near the doorway, behind which the steps began, a slot for an oblong object was found carved into the wall.
"This is a slot for a wrench. It's good that we don't need it, because the door is open."
Itinit and Tuot descended the wide stone steps into a corridor that ran horizontally to the left and right of the visitors. Itinit opened the map again to see where the character was.
"What?" Itinit looked around.
The red and blue marks were right on top of each other, making it unclear which way to go.
"I'm not going where it's dark without you," Tuot said.
"I'm not sending you. The stupidest thing to do now is to split up and go in different directions."
"But there's nowhere else to go."
"It's strange to hear this from a creature that spent almost all his time playing games."
"Do you think there's a hidden passage here?"
"Yeah, only we can avoid it."
Itinit began to examine the surrounding walls and soon found a large round slot.
"I think I found it," the creator of the dog girls said. "But this slot is too big. I don't even know what goes in there."
"The head," Tuot suggested.
"That's weird. Who would stick their head in there?"
"Me."
Tuot leaned over and tried to stick his head into the slot in the wall, but Itinit stopped him with his hand in time:
"You'll get stuck. They definitely weren't sticking a normal head in here. Most likely, it was an artificial head, perhaps a doll's head. They can be created in the "Mausoleum of Nature"."
At the mention of the doll, Tuot shuddered and looked fearfully into the surrounding darkness.
"You're lucky you didn't battle the doll alone," Itinit smiled. "They break easily, but are just as easily restored. Therefore, dolls rarely use defensive skills."
"They can't be destroyed?"
"I don't know. I haven't done it yet."
"So do it."
"What?"
Itinit looked around and noticed two blue lights in the darkness that weren't moving.
"Uh..." Itinit activated his aura.
There was more energy, and Itinit saw a doll with glowing blue eyes.
"Are you going to battle?" the doll asked. "Is this why you came to my crypt?"
"Uh..." Itinit created an energy ball in his hand. "I came here to get my character back."
"They are already battling my robots," the doll answered. "I gave them two options: either they battle me or the robots."
"Why do you want to battle?" Itinit asked.
"I'm a battle doll. If I don't battle, I'll stop being a battle doll."
"It looks like I found a real battle doll," Itinit joked mentally.
"Did you attack us?" Tuot asked.
"Not me, but my robots," the doll answered. "They choose their own target when a creature approaches the crypt."
"Are you guarding the crypt?" Itinit asked. "Or are the robots guarding it, too?"
"You're smart," the doll answered. "Let's battle. If you blow my head off, I'll consider you a winner. Then I'll let you in with your character."
"Can I choose the robot?"
"No. Your character has already chosen the robot. You must choose me."
"Choice without choice is in the style of dolls," Itinit thought. "But I'll have to agree. It's a good thing all I have to do to win is blow off her head."
"Follow me," the doll turned to the wall. "Just don't hit me before I tell you."
"Is she playing with us?" Tuot looked at the wall.
The doll brought her hand with a wrench and applied it to the slot in the wall. The slot was activated by a blue glow, after which part of the wall moved aside with a roar.
A passage opened into a dark space, into which not even the light from the barrier and aura penetrated.
"You can come in," the doll disappeared into the darkness.
"Are you going there?" Tuot asked. "But it's dark."
"It's dark everywhere here," Itinit answered. "But at least I'll be there. What if someone attacks you from behind?"
Tuot approached his friend. Itinit summoned a blue glowing ball the size of a human head. Only it was able to properly illuminate the room, and the living creatures understood where they were.
It was a round hall with an arena in the middle. Stone seats in the form of steps rose on both sides, and in the center there was a depression with a carved circle.
"Why is there an arena in the crypt?" Tuot asked.
"It's a crypt for battle dolls," Itinit suggested. "They have to battle so as not to become just dolls."
"Are there any dolls that are not battle dolls?"
"Yes," the doll turned its head towards the guests, but its neck and torso remained in the same position. "In addition to battle dolls, there are also healing dolls. They have pink hair because they can use pink energy, which restores almost any damage."
Itinit remembered the doll with pink hair and chains that he fought on the island.
"But there are very few healing dolls," the crypt keeper continued. "They are difficult to create. While a battle doll can be made from almost any living creature, a healing doll can only be made from someone who has agreed. To create them, you need to preserve as many parts of the brain as possible. Therefore, healing dolls can feel and act as they want."
"You are not a healing doll?" Tuot asked fearfully.
"No, I'm just a battle doll," the crypt keeper answered. "I even have a name. Should I tell you?"
"Yup," Tuot nodded.
"Why do you need this?" the doll tilted her head to the side and bulged her big eyes even wider.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm scared," Tuot turned away.
"If you are scared by the sight of my head, then how will you remove it?" the doll turned her head up. "Even though I'm not very strong, even with me you need to do at least something."
"Did you say "scary?" Itinit looked at his future opponent. "Dolls have no feelings. How do you know what "scary" is?"
"That's not quite true," the doll turned its head back, to where its body was "looking." "Battle dolls only have the feelings that were the strongest in life, but healing dolls retain almost all of their feelings."
"How are healing dolls different from living beings then?" Itinit asked.
"They can't talk," the doll turned its head again to the "guests." "They are needed to heal. In order to heal, you need to feel. Pink energy is connected to the creature's feelings."
"I thought it was connected with the element of fire," Itinit suggested.
"Fire is associated with feelings," the doll raised her hand up. "The dolls have connections everywhere. Hair color should match the color of skills, and character with the element."
The doll turned completely to the man and dinosaur, after which it activated a blue aura. Itinit and Tuot were finally able to look at her.
… A blue translucent plastic bag with slits for arms and legs covered the doll's body like a robe.
"Let's begin," the crypt keeper said. "If you defeat me, I will tell you my name."
"You promised something else," Itinit noted.
"This is in addition to what I promised," the crypt keeper pointed the wrench at the gap between the opponents. "You are the smartest. You will fight first."
The doll moved the wrench. Tuot was thrown back onto the stands. The arena was surrounded by a blue, translucent energy barrier in the shape of a dome.
"Let's begin..."
In front of Itinit stood a naked girl with long blue hair that partially covered her breasts, completely covered her crotch, and ended at the level of her knees.
"This doll has the same figure as the one with pink hair," was Itinit's first thought. "Do they make these in a factory? I hope they have nothing else in common."
While Itinit was thinking, the doll released a blue tongue from its mouth, surrounded by an aura of the same color...
Itinit came to his senses only when something pulled him towards the doll. The enemy's face reminded him of the face of his "only one".
"I better give up. I can't cut off a head with such smooth hair. Why aren't living girls like this?"
The tongue pulled the guy to the doll's chest, after which her belly button came undone. Something sharp and hard crawled out of her belly, and then began to rotate with a loud hum.
This sound made Itinit stop admiring his opponent and forced him to take action. An energy ball with an electric clot inside appeared in the guy's hand.
Tuot watched the fight through the wall of the barrier that fenced off the arena. He was not worried about his friend, but for some reason he became scared when the doll pulled him towards itself.
"If Itinit can't handle it, then what can I do? He knows what skills to use and when, and all I can do is run away with a lizard on my back."
After thinking about the lizard, Tuot remembered Itinit's words that only he had a lizard, although this only calmed the dinosaur a little.
"No, the lizard won't help in a fight with this doll. I can just cut off the head with a harpoon so as not to get close. But I'm afraid I won't have time. The doll is too fast."
Meanwhile, the battle continued. The circular saw that extended from the doll's stomach almost reached its target, but then stopped. The doll was electrocuted and had to let go of its opponent.
Itinit jumped back and activated a blue energy aura, then summoned the black handle from the robot, which had recently become his weapon.
The doll continued to shake, which is why it could not do anything. She looked at her opponent with bulging eyes, a tongue hanging out of her mouth, which twitched like a spring, and her arms and legs almost danced. Despite this, the blue aura still surrounded her, indicating that she was still not defeated.
"She moves so well," Itinit looked at his opponent. "I should summon the camera. When else will I get to see a girl with such smooth hair, looking at me and dancing? But why do this now? I'll extract her image from my memories later. There's no time for that now. Soon the lightning will disappear and the doll will attack again."
Itinit ran towards his opponent, but suddenly stopped at his chest, which jutted out so much that his hair had to make an arc to reach her knees.
"This is a good angle. Maybe I should summon the camera? But then I won't have time. What should I do?"
Itinit raised the handle and ran energy through it. A blue energy blade formed, from which a strong vibration emanated.
"This is not a girl to look at. This is my opponent. I just need to make one move, that's all. But she is too beautiful. You can't cut off the heads of such creatures, even if they recover."
The current began to leave the doll's body. The limbs were no longer shaking as much, and the tip of the tongue rose slightly towards the enemy. Itinit realized that he could not delay any longer. He brought the "sword" to the doll's neck and cut off its head with one movement.