When our friends were heading straight toward their final destination, something unexpected happened. The cart ended up falling directly into a pool. One of the sharks tore it apart with its teeth but found nothing inside. "How impossible!" exclaimed the voice in frustration. "Where are they? How could they have disappeared? When did they do it?"
Everyone was precariously hanging from what appeared to be a kind of ledge. At the last second, before plummeting to what seemed like their doom, Podbe activated his detective ability and spotted that overhang on the ceiling. With a sharp bark and a penetrating gaze, he made Eduard understand what they needed to do. Eduard looked up at the ceiling and urgently instructed everyone: "Quick, grab onto me!"
"What about Podbe?" asked Billy with concern.
"He knows what to do," Eduard replied confidently.
Everyone clung to one another, forming a human chain: Lidia and Elena hung from Eduard's waist; Maria and Billy from his legs; and Dani from one of his feet. Meanwhile, Podbe began climbing to the highest point, carrying a rope in his mouth that Eduard had thrown him. Once at the top, the dog pulled with all his might, first bringing Elena up, then Lidia, who together helped hoist Maria and afterward Billy.
Dani, desperate, shouted from below: "Hurry up, I can't hold on! I'm going to fall any moment now!" His voice echoed with anguish as the others tried to calm him down. Finally, he grabbed the rope and was pulled up by everyone. Once they were all safe, Eduard climbed up alone. Everyone, tense as violin strings, finally relaxed, feeling a sigh of relief wash over them.
The group thanked Eduard and Podbe, who once again had saved the day. "But we're still not safe," Eduard warned them. "We need to find a way to keep moving forward."
The voice continued to resonate with fury: "Where are they? They can't have just vanished like that." Suddenly, the room returned to normal: the walls, the rails, and the shark pool disappeared, leaving only the spot where they had been hiding intact.
The voice, now enraged, kept searching for them. Suddenly, one of the walls lifted, revealing a door. Out of it emerged another individual wearing a lab coat similar to Dani's, but vibrant with colors. His hair was braided into dreadlocks, each one painted a different shade, and he wore a nose piercing along with dark sunglasses. His skin had the texture of velvety darkness from a starry night. Tall and elegant, he carried with him an electric guitar.
He inspected the area with his dark eyes, filled with rage because the intruders had escaped him. Suddenly, he shouted: "Hello! Where are you? You can't hide from me!" He grabbed his guitar and began playing a soft melody that gradually transformed into something heavy and gloomy, reflecting his displeasure. Invisible waves emanated from the guitar—visible only to someone with the trained eye of a hawk or eagle, and to our friend Podbe, who was now in detective mode.
The waves began to create holes in the walls, and the melody became deafening, destroying everything in its path. Everyone's ears started ringing intensely, especially Podbe's, whose hearing was far more acute than that of humans.
"Minus twenty mana points," Reia indicated.
"What's wrong with you, Podbe?" she asked with concern.
"It's very loud music. It's killing me," he replied in a pained voice.
"You're not the only one, boy. The others are suffering too," she told him. "We need to destroy that instrument, or we'll die here," she added urgently.
Everyone began screaming in pain, and Podbe howled so loudly that the man managed to locate their hiding spot. "I need to configure that space better next time. If it weren't for the melodies I play, I wouldn't have found them. This music doesn't affect me because I have special earplugs," he muttered to himself.
Immediately afterward, the man pointed his guitar toward the source of the screams, turned the volume up to maximum, and unleashed a devastating wave of sound. The waves destroyed everything in their path as they advanced toward them. Stumbling, Podbe stepped in front of everyone and took the impact after activating his hardness ability.
"Minus twenty mana points, five minutes of active ability," Reia announced. The structure collapsed, and everyone fell from a height of three floors. Fortunately, Podbe positioned himself beneath them, cushioning the fall with his body.
"That's what happens when you mess with me, Don Richi, the best guardian of this inverted pyramid," the man said mockingly.
Everyone got up sore but unharmed. Upon seeing the dog beneath them, they apologized profusely, though Podbe seemed indifferent thanks to his ability. "I thought it wouldn't work for that," Podbe remarked to Reia. "At least it lasted as long as it needed to. It seems the effect wore off quickly due to the weight you had to bear, and it didn't last the full five minutes like before. Now you must wait an hour to reactivate it," she explained.
Don Richi laughed incessantly, saying: "Now you're all dead. What a shame, you could have at least been useful for my experiments."
"What do we do?" the children asked anxiously.
"Calm down," Lidia reassured them. "Everything will be fine."
Dani, though frightened, felt an insatiable curiosity about what that dog possessed. He imagined various possibilities: "Could it be alien technology or magic?" he wondered to himself.
"Well, we have something in our favor," Eduard said. "He thinks he annihilated us with that attack. We need to launch an offensive." He looked at the dog and asked: "Can you do that again?" Podbe shook his head no.
"If you can't do that, then we'll need to approach him and destroy that guitar first."
"And how are you going to do that?" Dani challenged him.
"Don't worry about it. The dog and I will take care of it while you all stay hidden here," Eduard responded with determination.
"Podbe, I want you to bark into this," Eduard ordered.
"What is this?" Reia wondered inside the dog. But, of course, Eduard couldn't hear her; only Podbe could.
"It's a sound box. I have more in my backpack. We'll place several of them. You just need to bark, but not too loudly so he doesn't hear us. I'll start recording on one of them, and it will copy the recording to the others."
They did as Eduard instructed: splitting up and placing the boxes in different locations. Luckily, when the room changed, there were several columns they could hide behind. Once the eight boxes were in place, Eduard said with a big smile toward the dog: "Let's begin the show."
Eduard turned on the machines, increasing the volume, and loud barking began to echo in all directions. Don Richi turned to see where the sound was coming from. He couldn't believe anyone had survived his attack. Disoriented, he fired wildly in every direction like a madman. This allowed Eduard and Podbe to approach him unnoticed, finding an opportunity to strike.
Eduard moved closer to the man to snatch the guitar, but the latter noticed his presence at the last moment, turning around and striking Eduard in the chin with the guitar.
"Fool, did you think I wouldn't notice you? If you're alive, then your companions must be nearby, like cockroaches. I only saw one dog, and now I hear multiple barks. It must be a trick," he said angrily. He looked at Eduard and pointed the guitar at him. "Then you'll be the first to die."
He was about to start playing when he realized he only had the upper part of the guitar in his hands, with the strings broken. "How did this happen? When did it happen?" he asked himself. He lowered his gaze and saw the dog holding the other half of the guitar in its mouth.
"Minus ten mana points for using the Steel Bite ability." "You won't be making those annoying noises anymore," Podbe thought to himself as he smiled at Reia.
The man, arrogant and overconfident, froze in place as the dog dropped the instrument—or what was left of it—and lunged at him with a Firehead that knocked him out instantly.
"No quest reward for this again?" Podbe asked Reia.
"Not only did you gain two hundred experience points, but you also need six hundred fifty more to reach level seven," she informed him. "Remember, starting from this level, the system indicates you need a thousand points for the next level."
The little dog felt lazy about having to fight these identical individuals without much gain; he yawned and sighed for a while.
"Don't feel that way. I have something that might cheer you up. Give me a moment," Reia told him.
"Surprise?" the dog asked, puzzled.
"Yes, almost ready. Done. Activate," she instructed.
Inside the puppy, a mist appeared, and Podbe was shown lying on a kind of floor, legs up in the air. In front of him, Reia's voice could be heard, and as she approached where the dog was, a feminine silhouette began to take shape.
"Well, Podbe, I found this space within your mind and was able to visualize both of us. Here, you'll see what you truly look like."
Suddenly, a boy somewhat resembling Aiden appeared—only with more color in his skin, short blue hair, and green eyes, wearing a suit that resembled dog fur covering his body. She showed him a mirror-like reflection, and Podbe was astonished to see himself in human form.
"I'm like Aiden! How cool! But where are my little paws and tail?" he exclaimed.
"Calm down, this is only inside your mind. Everything else is still in the real world," she explained patiently.
"I understand," Podbe replied, causing Reia to laugh at his innocence. Once he grasped the concept, she added: "Well, this is how I imagine myself as a human," revealing her angelic face, long golden hair, and a flowing white robe.
"Wow! You look amazing and beautiful, Reia, as a human. And when we get Aiden back, he'll be able to see us like this and be here with us too!"
"Why not?" she said with a smile. "I can't promise anything, but we'd need to test whether his connection with you is compatible. For now, let's focus on getting him back," she clarified.
And the dog gave an enthusiastic yes. "Now that I can see myself, conversations will be much friendlier," he said to himself with excitement.