NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

This place took the life of Snow White\'s brethren. I was sure of it, since the dwarves\' dead bodies scattered themselves around the area. The site became their grave after taking the bullet from those guns.

The lagoon was not the only battlefield Snow White with her dwarves fought. If I remembered the article correctly, Snow White fought near Nirvana\'s exterior borders. The dwarves tried asking for any assistance from the elves.

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However, those dwarves were already too late. These soldiers won their battle as they pushed through every NPC that they could find. The only saving grace that they had was the lack of information these soldiers possessed.

Although soldiers and players joined forces, most of the players withdrew themselves from the death game. And only Warner Asimov could give them the layouts of the terrain.

"Do you want to take your revenge, Snow White?" I asked, as I tapped the depths of her heart.

I knew that the best way to accept this was to let it slide. But if vengeance itself knocked on the front door, there was no other way but to accept it with open arms.

And that sentence was what I proposed to Snow White. A deal with the devil… A deal with me.

"I-I will accept your offer…," Snow White replied, and gripped the pommel of her dagger.

Her eyes beamed with hatred as Snow White continued gazing at her friend\'s corpses. I could only imagine how painful she felt when each of her friends died in front of her. I would have blamed myself for my lack of skills if that happened to me.

There was not a one in a million chance I could imagine Himari and Ryoshi would die before me.

Snow White was also the dwarven kingdom queen. She had the responsibility to protect every citizen inside that concealed mine. And when she tried defending the kingdom, Snow White lost her chance.

Her defeat marked a scar inside Snow White\'s heart. With her eyes alone, I could tell that she was suffering too much. The pain of losing everyone because of her weak self was nothing to laugh about, especially when the game became a reality.

I knew taking her revenge was promoting violence against those bastards. My lineage came from humans, after all. Telling her to kill my kind would never bring my heart to ease.

However, doing the opposite would not help me either. If I had to choose, Snow White must protect her hometown, even by drenching her hands with blood.

"Good….," I answered.

But because of my suggestion, I became a perpetrator of this battle. I would kill those players outside of this video game. Those people had families and a life they cherished. Those soldiers and players also had a dream and someone to protect.

And yet… I was selfish enough to let this slide.

\'If I were in the same position as her, I would have done the same thing,\' I pondered, while gazing at Snow White\'s face.

It was the truth. And it was the only reason I kept pursuing Red Riding Hood. That bloody girl also had a sister. That woman also wanted revenge. But deep down inside, Red wanted nothing but a life with Clementine.

If I placed myself into her shoes, I would have done the same thing…

"The human heart is fragile," I mumbled to myself, while preparing myself to attack.

But before I could go berserk, a light tap on my shoulders woke my mind. As I turned around, Ryoshi\'s hand welcomed my eyes, with his face smirking at mine.

"Yo... I know this fight would be tough… since we\'re going to fight against soldiers… and players… If we kill those people, they will also die in our world. You probably killed a lot of soldiers too, when you saved us from Nirvana. So, whatever you planned on doing, count me in. I always got your back."

"You idiot... Thank you, Ryoshi. I couldn\'t have a better friend than you," I replied, while fighting my tears.

"You\'re the bigger idiot! You\'re fighting against a horde of soldiers for the sake of completing the game. I would bet your sister\'s going to be proud of you, Okami," Ryoshi continued, while he gave me a light jab on my back.

"Yes. I know. It\'s all for Himari, after all. I don\'t want to embarrass myself when I\'m the number one player in this game."

I needed that conversation. It was the only motivation that I needed to continue forward. Every problem I faced, Ryoshi was always there to save me. When my parents got Himari and me bankrupt, he was the one who lent me some spare money… without even asking for anything.

And until now, I never returned the favour…

"I will give your money back someday, Ryoshi. I promise."

"This conversation again? If you have the strength to say that, why don\'t you take those guys out before I could!"

Ryoshi conjured his bow and fired an arrow towards the farthest soldier. That bolt hit the man, but it never took his life. I knew, since Ryoshi aimed the dart away from the man\'s vital points.

"You could take them out without killing them… I know you could do it. You\'re the number one player, after all. If I could do it, so could you."

A grin emerged on my face as I activated my skill [wolf walk]. That skill enhanced my movements, making me swifter than ever before. I did not want to use my first form, knowing that I would kill these soldiers with that boost of raw power.

It was like Ryoshi had said. I could just restrain myself from killing soldiers and players…, unlike I did when I fought Robin.

"Oh, I see. If we win by killing no one, we could become greater creatures! I could finally restrain myself from becoming a monster!" Snow White exclaimed, with a sinister smile carved on her face.

She had a completely novel idea when I told her about restraining our powers. I could even hear Snow White\'s laugh every time I went beside her. Sometimes, I prayed to meet another dwarf besides this girl.

We did not make any plans at all. Our goal was to infiltrate the lagoon and take down those enemies without killing them. If we could not, the three of us would force our way to the body of water and fill our bottle. After filling our container, we would all fly away as nothing had ever happened!

My brain wanted to scream after hearing that scheme. When I played this game as Fenrir, I always had a plan to do these things. I could even sneak around the place and fill our bottles fighting no one!

And these dimwits never let me. We did not even talk about anything besides charging straight to the front door.

But the past already happened.

Snow White was already in front of the enemies, causing a distraction. Although we did not have a plan, these two already worked as a team.

That gigantic dwarf would gather the soldier\'s attention, while Ryoshi would fire his shots towards the soldiers. Those two would rinse and repeat this set-up until something crazy would happen.

However, I doubted that these soldiers would have something on their sleeves. With the three of us here, we could even demolish a kingdom if we wanted to!

I slicked through the place and went beside the guard\'s back. That soldier got himself distracted by Snow White\'s figure, smashing things all over the place! If I were their general, I would signal an alarm to defeat the enemy troops.

And that was what the soldiers did. They followed their chief\'s orders and went straight into combat. Some players had swords as their weapons, while others remained using the gun.

Some of these bastards were also gamers from my world. These soldiers knew the features of the games. If a veteran understood the ropes, gamers would consider guns inside the game world overpowered.

Any overpowered item deserves a nerf. It was not "fun" to play with or against enemies.

And I did not need to have a gun, since my body could evade the speed of a bullet! Heck, I could even dodge lightning if I wanted to.

I readied my palm and slammed it against the soldier\'s head. Upon contact, the man in front of me fell like a swatted fly, showing no signs of waking up.

"No killing… Well, this is easy," I said, while kicking the unconscious body of the soldier. "I better help Snow White and Ryoshi."

"Freeze! Put your hands in the air where I could see them!"

The classic line from the police resounded behind me, ordering me what to do. I slowly turned around and did what the voice said, hoping these soldiers wouldn\'t shoot me at point-blank range.

"I won\'t do that if I were you," I exclaimed, and vanished from the ground.