NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

Wolf pounded the soldier's shoulder using his claws, disarming him with his gun. The rifle bounced on the side and hit the rock around ten feet away from them. Since the soldier lost his weapon, he tried reaching out for his firearms.

But Wolf did not allow him to get near his precious toy. He even kicked the rifle further away from the fight, turning the tides to his favour.

And before I could even take down the soldier in front of me, I remembered Match's words ringing inside my head. I prohibited her from killing NPCs or players throughout our journey, since I did not want her to become someone who could kill anyone without empathy.

That hesitation cost me everything, as the soldier mumbled his few words before latching out from my grip.

"If you have time to look away, you should fight me!"

Just like the soldier shouted, I glued my eyes at Wolf's battle and not mine. I paid the price and received a hit coming from the soldier when he turned around. I moved backwards and went to the side, but the soldier showered me with shells. It grazed my shoulder from the incoming bullets, forcing me to run away towards the flank.

It was a good thing that I had my [shadow walk] still activated all the time, helping me avoid the enemy's sight. My swift movements allowed me to avoid any bullets that could have hit my vital organs.

I went to the side and swung a vine in his direction. The guard had his eyes peeled at his surroundings and noticed my cheap attack. He kicked the vines and eluded some of them, with his orbs still wandering in the forest.

The man never called out my attention or shouted at me. He was an elite guard, after all. That soldier moved like a jaguar, using the environment against me. Since we were inside a forest, the setting made it easier for the two of us to conceal our presence.

Our battle made us forget the fight between Wolf and the other soldier.

I kept hurling the vines in the soldier's direction while moving at different places at extreme speeds. The only thing that I became concerned about was my arcane consumption. While using this spell, it continued eating away my mana, forcing me to fight the soldier within a time limit.

If I had to guess it right, I only had around ten minutes to fight this soldier. Although it looked like I had more time, I did not.

The soldier had no obvious openings for me to take him down. Although I had the soldier within my grasp, I did not dare to kill someone. If Match knew that I stained my blood, she would never forgive me.

I had to defeat the guard without killing him, or else I would suffer the consequences. There was no other way to do it but to render the guard unconscious using the experiences I had from my battles.

After a few seconds, a vine finally hit him, forcing the soldier to release the gun in his hands. The situation happened as Wolf experienced. The gun slid from the soldier's fingers and slammed against the bushes. It would take us around a few minutes before finding that gun in the towering grass.

I took down the soldier's valuable weapon. But it did not mean that I could effortlessly win this fight. Since I was up against an elite guard, I could still lose this battle.

However, before I could even make my move, the soldier reached out for something in his uniform. Upon waiting for a few seconds, he revealed a gun with a miniature design compared to the one on the floor. My system notified me that the firearm the soldier held was also the smaller version of the gun. It even had the name called a "revolver".

The only comparison that I could see from his gun was the bullet's damage. Since the revolver had lesser arcane input, the damage from each shell would decrease compared to the previous one.

I finally made my move and stormed the man from behind. I used the vine as my distraction while using my [shadow walk] to close the distance.

But as soon as I reached the soldier's front, the man turned around and blocked my attack. He used his free hand to block my attack with his gun pointed at my face.

It was as if the soldier already expected me to hunt him down, especially behind his back.

I also knew this would happen. So I turned towards the side and used my [shadow walk] once again. The guard pulled the trigger and fired two bullets in my direction. Those bullets targeted me and downwards since the man thought I would pull off a sneaky attack.

But I didn't. I moved faster than the soldier, so I eluded his attack. Those bullets crashed behind me and pierced a hole towards the stone. Within a matter of seconds, the rock crumbled like dust blown by the wind.

"I always carry a spare, unlike my partner. But I still commend you reacting faster than my bullet," the soldier remarked, while aiming his gun at my previous position.

However, I already hid away from his vicinity and used the forest again as my hideout. This battle was a game of cat and mouse. Whoever gets caught first would be the loser of this battle. And for now, the two of us were in a stalemate. Since nobody wanted to make the first move, the two of us couldn't counterattack each other.

Five minutes had already passed before my spell would deactivate by itself. It was only a matter of time before I would lose this game.

Fortunately for me, the soldier knew nothing about my spells. I could turn invisible from his eyes, and that was all the guard knew about me.

I found a tree that stood tall among its peers and climbed towards the apex. As soon as I arrived at the top, the soldier's image became tiny, with all the plants and logs surrounding him. Within those few seconds, I finally came up with an absurd plan to take down this soldier.

"From afar….," I mumbled, and jumped from the branch.

The soldier heard the noise but did not know where the sound came from. He looked in every direction, but found nothing but the whirling twigs blown by the wind.

I dove towards the soldier and attempted to slice the guard's shoulder. My attack successfully hit the soldier, but it came with a price. That man had no openings, and that proved my theory. He used my speed to his advantage and hurled me at his fore, spraining the muscles on my right leg.

I couldn't cut the entire arm from the soldier. But I knew the damage I did was enough to restrain his right arm from using the gun. From my observation, the man used his right hand and side to aim at me. He rarely used his left hand while using his gun. When I disabled his right limb, I knew I had a chance to beat him.

But the soldier switched his gun to his left arm and aimed at me. That man planned to take me down using his non-dominant arm.

The soldier pulled the trigger, but the first discharged bullet missed and hit the stone. Despite desperately trying to shoot me, the man could not help but blunder his first shot.

I pulled out a gun of my own and tried reinforcing the bullets from my arcane. My [shadow walk] got also deactivated by itself, revealing my position and figure for the man.

"I could finally see you, NPC. Your efforts won't win you. Just know that the soldiers will hunt you down and take you out of your miseries," said the man.

I refused to retort at the soldier's words and remained silent throughout the fight. He was not worth my time, since there was no point in communicate with my enemy. I also needed to help Wolf and the others, considering we were up against soldiers with fighting experiences. There was no way I would know about Wolf's fight when I had to deal with this guard in front of me.

The soldier finally shut his mouth and met my eyes. He knew that talking would not make a difference, and he could not provoke me with his words. So, instead, he fired multiple bullets in my direction and hoped for the best.

I nudged towards my side while aiming my gun in his direction. Since I could not run away from my place, I had to walk around dodging the bullets.

That soldier also had the advantage, considering that he studied using the gun more than I did. Although he kept missing his shots, the guard remained diligent at killing me.

I had little experience with using the gun, so my bullets could not reach him. I did not know what would happen, so I kept firing everything in the soldier's direction.