Even the toughest monsters should've collapsed after taking a direct hit from Lightning Strike.

But this one…

Not only survived—it looked annoyed.

"GRRRRAAAAAAH!!"

Oh, great.

Now it's angry.

The bear let out a roar so loud the stone walls vibrated, but what came next made my mind go completely blank.

"That hurt! Human! You hurt Lota!"

…It talked.

It actually talked.

Human words came spilling out of that giant maw full of steel-looking teeth, and for a moment I honestly wondered if the electricity had fried my brain instead.

Before I could process anything, the metal bear charged at me with a furious expression—much faster than before.

"Human! I won't let you get away with this!"

"W–wait—!"

I tried to dodge like earlier, but its speed had nearly doubled. Maybe tripled.

There was no avoiding it.

"Ah, crap—!"

The next moment, its massive front paws slammed into me, lifting me clean off the ground like I weighed nothing.

Cold metal claws dug into my sides, sharp enough to slice stone.

If it squeezed even a little harder, my body would be ripped apart.

This was bad.

Very, very bad.

In a panic, I forced my left hand up toward its paw, preparing to blast it with electricity to break free.

But before I could release the spell—

FLASH!

A bright red light burst from the back of my hand, flooding my vision.

"Eve?"

"…Aaaaaah—huh?"

The bear's murderous eyes suddenly softened… almost melting into affection.

Then—

It hugged me.

It hugged me.

"Eve…!"

"Ugh— w-wait—! Too tight—!"

What was this?

What on earth was happening?

A moment ago, it was about to tear me limb from limb.

Now I was being squeezed in the arms of a giant robot-bear calling the name Eve with the tone of someone who just found a lost childhood friend.

Held tightly in its iron grip, my brain filled with question marks.

Was it broken?

Was I broken?

…Or was this another insane twist this dungeon was throwing at me?

Either way—

I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

----

After finally prying myself free from the bear's… enthusiastic embrace, I now sat cross-legged on the cold floor, face-to-face with the creature. The tension from before had evaporated entirely, replaced by something bizarrely domestic.

"So you're saying there are others like you down here?" I asked.

Iota nodded so hard I thought his giant head might pop off.

"That's right! Lots of friends!"

Friends.

Plural.

My morale dropped like a stone.

More creatures like him? In this creepy underground facility?

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

Still… at least this one was friendly.

Even if it was only because he thought I was someone named Eve.

A name I vaguely remembered from the dream-lab records. Someone heavily involved in chimera creation. Someone tied directly to all the horrors lurking in this place.

Not the kind of person I wanted to be mistaken for—but right now, it kept me alive, so I wasn't going to complain.

I lowered my gaze to the faint red mark on the back of my hand. The wound had faded almost completely, but the memory of the red light was still vivid.

The moment I touched the angel statue.

And again when I touched Iota's fur.

Both times, the same crimson glow had leaked out as if reacting to something.

I knew now this was no ordinary scar.

I just didn't know why.

Or what it meant.

Or why Iota had looked at it and instantly assumed I was Eve.

Questions piled up in my head like an overdue stack of assignments.

But I didn't have the luxury of sitting here philosophizing.

I needed to find Lisa.

And if anyone here might know something—even by accident—it was the giant metal-skinned teddy bear in front of me.

"Iota," I said carefully. "Have you ever heard the name Lisa around here?"

"Lisa…?"

He tilted his head, thinking so hard his ears twitched.

"I've never heard that name!"

So much for that.

"Alright then… what about a girl with pink hair?"

Iota blinked.

"Pink? What's that?"

I stared at him.

Right.

This was a chimera who thought colors were probably types of food.

I rubbed my forehead.

This was going to be a long day.

To Iota—who didn't even know what pink was—I pointed at the faded pink streak on the wall and said gently:

"This. This color is called pink."

"Krung…?"

He only tilted his head, ears drooping slightly, completely lost.

Right… of course he wouldn't understand.

Now that I think about it, didn't we learn in high school that many animals can't perceive certain colors?

Some can only see in limited spectrums.

Maybe chimeras are the same.

If pink was one of the colors outside his range of perception, then this clue meant nothing to him.

"…Great. And here I thought I was getting somewhere."

I sighed and looked out over the endless hallway full of doors—each one identical, each one holding who-knows-what behind it.

It felt like trying to finish a puzzle without knowing if any pieces even belonged to the same set.

Just as frustration started creeping up my spine—

"Beta might know!" Iota suddenly shouted.

"Beta knows the name Eve is looking for!"

"…Beta?"

I blinked, thrown off by the sudden mention.

I turned toward Iota, who was wagging his tail excitedly as if he had just shared the most brilliant idea in the world.

"Who's Beta?" I asked.

"Beta is like… like a senior! Born second!" he puffed up proudly. "Beta knows everything! Really!"

My eyes drifted down to the letters engraved at the base of his neck—AE-09.

The ninth chimera.

If the ninth exists, then… the journal mentioning the 13th test subject didn't just talk about a hypothetical number. There were at least thirteen of them.

And if Beta was second…

Then Beta would know much more than Iota. Maybe even the things the journal hinted at. Maybe even Eve.

"Can you take me to Beta?" I asked.

"Of course!" Iota said immediately, tail sweeping the floor like a broom.

He looked so proud—like he'd finally found something useful he could do.

Good.

Finally, a real lead.

"Alright," I said, patting his shoulder.

"Take me to him."

With a happy chirp, Iota turned and began trotting ahead—

and I followed him deeper into the unknown corridors of the laboratory.

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