NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

The soldier we interrogated gave us everything we needed. Since that man was just a scout sent by other big fish, we couldn't get enough information from him. 

And as soon as the bloke spit everything he knew, we whacked his head and sent him to merry land, together with his friend. Ryoshi went towards my figure and searched the area once more. After inspecting the place, he concluded that there were no additional back ups coming in our direction.

"We should head out. Our base must be close by, since…."

Before I could continue my sentence, a dart came flying towards me. Fortunately, I still had my first form on and dodged the bolt flying in my direction. 

That dart did not have the designs of Ryoshi's bows, but a compromised, sharpened twig. It was as if the attacker did not have anything else but to use the environment. 

But upon turning around, a recognisable shape greeted my eyes.

"A long-eared elf? Hey! We're friends from work! We know Kouran, and she's working with me!" I waved my head to say hello.

However, the elf didn't catch my words and ran away. She thought that we were provoking her well-being and sprinted as far away as humanly possible from me. Luckily, I still  had my ability as I raced through the forest. It didn't take me too long before arriving beside the elf zooming like a rabbit with its feet tied together.

"I told you that we're not enemies!" I yelled.

The elf shouted back, "I know! But we can't talk there, since there are more soldiers heading in that area!"

I blinked a few times after hearing the words coming from the elf. Ryoshi had already mentioned that there were no soldiers within our vicinity. He had eyes like an eagle, which spread throughout the terrain of this place.

However, despite his enhanced eyesight, this elf claimed otherwise. But before I could retort, a bullet passed through my side. The event happened so fast that my body had to instinctively react and forced myself to roll on the side.

Ryoshi and the elf hid behind the stones, while I used the ancient tree as my barrier. As luck would have it, these obstacles were enough to stop those bullets. But we better come up with something before those army of soldiers arrive at our front.

I wanted to ask the elves about how he saw through the soldiers. But today was not the right day, considering the problem slapped on our face.

"Follow me! I know a tunnel nearby that would lead to the base. But I need to shake them off and-..."

I didn't let the long-eared elf finish as I leapt from the tree and distracted the soldiers. Thanks to my ability, none of the players could keep up with me. But I never let those soldiers get bored and continued dashing at the sides, looking for a better chance to hit them.

However, killing them was not an option. We were not in a drastic place for me to activate my instant kill. And there was no risk involved in this chase, which made it less stressful than the ones I had experienced.

But I still had to put some effort to keep these soldiers at bay while the rest of my team found the tunnel. I would catch up onto them, since I knew the terrain more than anyone in this game.

"You heard the man, right? Let's go," Ryoshi exclaimed, and urged the elf to make a move.

Ryoshi could lead the charge, since we didn't know where the tunnel this elf shared earlier. If only the long-eared individual told us the location, we wouldn't have troubled ourselves fighting these soldiers. 

"It's around one kilometre away from here! Just follow that trail and head towards the boulder with some flowers of death!" 

The elf explained the place in detail to Ryoshi, and he immediately shared it with me via chat. Even though Ryoshi sent me abbreviations, it was enough for me to know the location. However, that "flowers of death" caught me off guard. But I didn't have any time to ask Ryoshi a question, since the soldiers finally brought some bigger guns.

"Well, look what we have here! A freaking bazooka and machine gun? Talk about excessive arsenals!" I murmured to myself, while dodging every attack of the soldiers.

Fortunately, I didn't let them prepare or shoot their arsenals. The man holding the bazooka tumbled towards the side as soon as I arrived at their formation. I swept the soldier's balance and did a cheap trick against them, which was the only thing that would win me this fight.

I also performed those greedy tactics against them, since the soldiers were the ones who started hitting me from behind. As soon as I disrupted their balance, the squad of players issued a retreat, claiming that they were up against a monster.

But a soldier from their team got my title right, shouting "WE FOUND FENRIR!" near his teammates. When they realised the meaning behind those words, the soldiers couldn't help but sprint away from me.

Since I already did my job, I returned to Ryoshi and the elf about our plan. But it turned out that the two had already gone inside the base and left me behind. That pair left some trails for me to follow. However, as soon as I arrived at the place, a dozen boulders entered my view.

"A boulder with a bunch of flowers of death….What exactly is a flower of death?" I asked myself, while searching for the rock.

Luckily, my eyes caught a spider lily attached to a stone. And from what I remembered, these flowers symbolize negative things such as death and bad luck.

"Ironically, I hit the jackpot." 

As soon as I pushed the stone, the ground collapsed before me. Gravity hurriedly pulled me downwards as my body slid to the make-shift entrance towards some place. It took my a few seconds before reaching the finish line, where Ryoshi and other NPCs greeted me.

"You're late, Fenrir," Ryoshi called out, and offered me a hand.

He used my nickname, since the NPCs surrounded our figures. But Ryoshi and I paid it no mind, since we were used to this kind of set-up.

I accepted Ryoshi's offer and stood from the ground. "You ran away, while I fought them. And they eventually ran away too."

"You two have some work to do." A voice among the crowds echoed inside the hideout, which caught our attention. 

As we turned our sight towards the audience, a figure stepped foot in front of us. Those recognizable features made our heart throbbed and hands quivered in delight.

"Kouran, oh girl, it's so nice to see you! I thought those soldiers got us good," I reacted, and went for a hug.

Kouran tilted her head and sent some question marks at first when I did that. But after a few seconds, she accepted my culture and returned my embrace. 

(Author's Note: Japanese people rarely hug people, since it is a more intimate action for them than to Western people. And since Kouran was the only ally they have, Okami and Ryoshi were really glad to see her.)

Ryoshi did the same thing and followed my lead. The two of us couldn't stop our tears from flowing on our cheeks, since we really thought we would lose this fight. But now that we had some allies we could trust, the tides had turned to our favour.

I could do this fight alone, but it was more practical to rely on our team. Since I didn't have my main account, I needed all the help that I could get to fight against the players. We needed to get the obelisk back and save Red. And since the NPCs and my goals aligned, the two of us combined our forces against the players.

As soon as we ended our warm welcome, I resumed my serious face and asked Kouran, "What is the status of our forces. And what information did you get from the players?"

"We lost Red….She's not dead, but we couldn't get her," I continued, while looking on the ground.

"Is she a traitor to our forces?" Kouran asked, while pondering from the words I said.

"No!" I shook my head. "Alice manipulated her, which caused us to split. Red hasn't done anything bad, actually. And if I were in her position, I would have done the same thing."

Kouran believed my claim and replied, "Very well, Fenrir. Let's head over to the main hall and discuss everything we need. We've found a lot of things around the place, including the new base they've set up."

"New base?" I asked. "For what? What do you mean new base?" 

The document I read before going inside the game also had that thing. But I wasn't sure if the pamphlet said the right thing or the other way around.

"I believe a man named Asimov is behind the new building."