NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

The two of us were against elite guards, with higher ranks than Match and the others fought. Our enemies also had two members, which would make our fight more interesting than the ones we had before. This battle would exhaust our energy and arcane, but we had no other choice but to fight them head-on.

"Ready when you are, Wolf," I replied, and prepared my penitent\'s blade.

"Don\'t get too cocky, NPC, and Wolf… Robin sent us here to find you and the rest of the NPCs. We will clear this game by annihilating all the NPCs," the soldier remarked, and aimed his scope in my direction.

Uttering nothing, Wolf and I knew which target we would focus on in this fight. Since we cannot fight them together at once, we wanted to split these elite soldiers apart and fight them in a one-on-one battle.

However, the soldiers already noticed our tactics and refused to accept our bait. Those soldiers glued themselves on the ground and readied themselves to pull the trigger.

As soon as they got a clear shot, bullets showered us in our direction. Wolf and I had no other choice but to slide away to safety, hiding behind a sturdy stone. But this wall would not last for the next round, considering those guards had enhanced bullets in their rifles.

"We can\'t split them up... What now?" I asked, while looking at Wolf.

"Well, isn\'t it obvious? We need to fight them head-on...as a team," Wolf replied.

"Are you serious, Okami?! How can we even get close to those weapons they have?! Do you have a plan? I got nothing out of my sleeves, Okami! And you better think of something quick, or else we\'d die!"

"We fight them like we fight other monsters or players. You take the right, and I\'ll take the left. That\'s the plan."

After telling his plan, Wolf dashed towards the side and prepared his dagger for an attack. I, who thought that this was an absurd plan, did the same thing.

I snuck to the flank and hid among the towering leaves. The two soldiers in front of us seized to fire their firearms at our figure.

"I thought Wolf is an excellent player using his smurf account. My son told me a lot about you, Wolf. I studied your attack patterns. And boy, you love sneaking around people!"

When the guard exclaimed that phrase, that soldier turned around and blocked Wolf\'s attack, forcing Okami to fall back to his knees. The right soldier aimed his gun in his direction and pulled the trigger.

But before the soldier\'s hand discharged the bullet, I threw my penitent\'s dagger at his gun, disrupting his voice. And when the right guard glanced in my direction, I already swung to a vine. I readied my body and kicked the man in his face, sinking my foot into his perfect looking eyes.

My assault knocked the right man off to the ground, but the damage was not enough to take him down. Since we were up against elite players, it would take them more than my kicks to render them unconscious.

I did not waste my time and disarmed the man by kicking the left man\'s weapon off from his hands. During that fight, I grabbed my blade and threw it in front of me. My dagger hit the vines wrapped around a tree.

The creeping plant fell in our direction, inviting me to swing at the other side. I reached out for the grapevine and travelled at the opposite side, with Wolf gripped between my shoulders.

When the soldiers finally recovered from my attack, I had already landed on the ground.

"Cease fire! Don\'t waste any more bullets for them."

The right guard ordered the left one, thinking that was the best way to contain us. They finally realised how slick Wolf and I were on this ground, especially with all the trees and stones covering our tracks.

Just before we could finally take a breather, the right soldier reached out for something behind his uniform. He took out a peculiar-looking ball, which contained ominous arcane. The soldier took out the lid and threw the object in our direction while shouting "Grenade".

"You idiot, we gotta move!" Wolf shouted, with his eyes looking at the grenade.

The item landed a couple of metres in front of us. It looked like the thing missed hitting us, but Wolf\'s eyes told me otherwise. He gripped my hand, despite his wobbly feeling, and urged me to run away as fast as my legs could.

Without asking for more details, I heeded his advice and fled from the scene. We also needed to stay away from the soldier\'s eyes, considering they planned to attack us upon sight. So, we made our way towards the other route. We also got our hands on a stone that looked like a wall.

Within a couple of seconds, the harmless ball exploded, blasting away everything at sight. All the trees in our vicinity got caught by the fierce flames, with the wind fanning the blaze. The blast made our bodies roll back all the way to the dry land. Since we were still inside the dwarven village, most of the soil had less water and nutrients.

"W-What was that?!" I asked Wolf, considering that he knew more than me.

"It\'s a grenade, just like the soldiers mentioned. Think of it as exploding arcane magic once the lid opens. And that\'s why I asked you to run away before we could become ashes like those trees," Wolf replied, with his eyes pointing at the ablaze forest.

The smog served as our camouflage against the guards, improving our concealment than before. However, that smog also kept us at bay.

After a few seconds of silence, the sound of something rolling towards us alerted my senses. As I looked on the ground, two balls, which had the exact design of the previous one, welcomed our eyes.

It was what Wolf had mentioned before. Those balls that came rolling in our direction were hand grenades with opened lids.

Before we could even have the time to react, the bombs activated, blasting us off towards the other side.

But the grenades were not enough to kill me or decapitate my limbs. The same story went to Wolf as the two of us remained conscious and alive. Regardless of any weapon thrown at us, Wolf and I remained sturdy as the rocks.

However, that was not all. It was a matter of time before my body planned on giving up on me, considering the damage I already accumulated. One-shot from those grenades would definitely take me down alongside Wolf.

The game identified us as skilled players, but we were not invincible from death. We could always die when our health bar reaches zero.

We did not want that to happen…. And the worst part was; we had to defeat these two soldiers, no matter the cost. If we ran away right now, Match, Ryoshi, and Snow White would end up meeting these guards. Those three would ultimately lose the fight before they could even start.

"We need to attack those guards right now before Ryoshi and the others could arrive. If they do, they would just slow us down," Wolf suggested, as he desperately stood from the ground.

The blast covered our bodies with dozens of wounds and minor cuts, leaving us sluggish for this battle. We also overused our spare arcane, defending ourselves from the firearms. But giving up right now would waste all our efforts collecting these obelisks….

I needed to complete the game and serve justice to those game developers living outside this game.

I nodded my head and agreed to the abrupt plan of Wolf. It was not like this was the only chance he mentioned that to me. If I had to include our earlier scheme, it had the same system as this scene.

The two of us used our special abilities [shadow walk] and [wolf walk] to advance near the soldiers. Since we cloaked ourselves with our arcane, our bodies became light like a feather. We stormed the terrains and ended up moving within seconds near the soldiers.

Wolf and I already knew what to do, so we sprawled into action and went towards the guards. The two of us did not have any teamwork at all. Combining our attacks into one was an unknown word in our dictionaries, considering the relationship we had.

But there was one thing that our scheme could work. Since the two of us had the skills of a veteran player, Wolf and I needed to take down our targets individually without affecting the other. We just had to inspect our surroundings and try to eliminate our enemies as we would if we did it alone.

And that was what we did.

Wolf emerged from the shrubs and revealed his claws to the guard. I also moved behind the guard and attempted to slit the soldier\'s throat.