NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

Match and Ryoshi nodded to Okami's words and eventually went to their stations. The two of them needed to fend off the creatures in our boat. If this ship sank, there would be nothing left for us to travel to Wonderland.

"Red!" Wolf called my attention. "I will attack the serpent's eyes while you guard my back. If my attacks are successful, we continue spamming our spells before retreating. Let's see what would happen, okay?"

"How am I going to do that?" I asked. "I still can't control my lightning attacks! How am I supposed to protect you against that beast!"

"The Kraken has tentacles popping out from the ocean whenever it would feel his life is in danger. And that's your job. You need to keep those tentacles at bay before it could reach me," Wolf said, and glanced at me for the last time. "Oh, and, Red? Try catching up with my speed. Look at me, 'cause I won't hand out instructions from here and out. If I do, make sure to follow my commands... And whatever you do, don't disobey it."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Okami leapt from the ground and attacked the Kraken. I had no other choice but to protect his back and sides from the tentacles that he mentioned.

Okami used his claws and struck the Kraken's face. The squid had eyes, which the monster used to perceive its surroundings. Wolf tried deleting those orbs from its existence, wanting to grasp that upper-hand that we had.

If we could take those eyes down, we might win this battle.

Upon striking both the Kraken's with his claws, Okami went to the side and continued spreading the damage. He glided at the Kraken's behind and wreaked havoc across the monster's fabricated skin, tearing it apart.

As soon as Okami finished his blitz, he went backwards and tried landing on an isolated tentacle.

However, that never went as smoothly as mine.

It was like what Okami had mentioned. The tentacles appeared behind the player, hoping that they could latch themselves around Okami's feet. Wolf assigned me this job, so there was no room for me to screw up.

I did as Okami told me and battled against the tentacles, removing them from the equation. Those tentacles did not stand a fight against me. I could even argue that I had more trouble fighting against the soldiers and elite players than these tentacles.

But the problem was…. I had to deal with countless tentacles popping up every minute. I had no other way but to continuously hunt down these appendages and bring them to their miseries before they attacked Okami.

If one of those landed on Okami's feet, it would be game over for the rest of us.

After dealing with fifty tentacles, I followed Okami and landed on the tentacle's surfaces. I positioned myself close to Wolf so I could give him back up whenever he needed me.

I also needed to predict Wolf's next course of action using his eyes. If Okami looked straight ahead, I would sense that he planned on attacking forward. If Okami's eyes glanced at the sides, I would follow him and his chosen angle.

It was all about being patient and observing his moves. Much to my surprise, this cat-and-mouse chase helped me enhance my speed, with the help of the wind magic from Match. If Match did not place this spell on me, I would not reach Wolf, even with my red eye glowing.

Okami finally decided and dashed to the Kraken's right side. Wasting no moment, I tailed behind his back and became a shadow of his figure, defending him from these tentacles. As soon as I slashed all the limbs, Wolf pierced the Kraken with his shadow claws.

We did these attacks for several minutes, trying to chip away damage against this Kraken. However, no matter how hard Okami swung his hands, those claws dealt no damage against the sea monster.

"Tch…. It's just tickling it!" Okami exclaimed, while looking above.

A red health bar appeared on top of the Kraken, telling me its current health. I did not always use it. But that health bar became a handy tool we could use to understand our damage.

And as we already had expected, Wolf couldn't stroke his nails inside the Kraken.

The two of us went back to the ship and planned our next attack. But despite all that we could think of, none of the options seemed promising for this battle.

"It's no use, Red. I think the only way to deal with this is lightning…. And if we don't have that, we can't fight it!" Okami shouted, as he chopped a few of those tentacles obstructing our view.

Okami spelt out the truth in front of my face. But despite listening to his words, there was nothing I could do about it. Even if I squeezed myself, I wouldn't eject lightning sparks out from my body.

The situation became worse when the dark clouds approached us. It was the same storm that almost washed our boat away from existence. We only survived that calamity because of me redirecting that thunder hailing from above.

But I only did that out of luck, not with my skill. And luck did not come to me as often as other players and NPCs inside this world.

"Can you redirect that lightning towards the Kraken like before? It would save us from all the trouble."

"Like I've said, Okami. I can't, okay? There's no way I could redirect lightning-like before. I'm not a magical user."

After our exchange, the sea creatures left inside the boat attacked us. Fortunately, Wolf and my reaction time saved our lives by counterattacking the monsters. Match and Ryoshi couldn't fend off all of them, so some monsters reached our place.

But it was not their fault, since those two were still trying hard to eliminate these pests in front of us. However, that was not the end. With the storm dropping by, we had no choice but to fight under the roaring clouds.

"W-We're holding, Okami. Go fight the Kraken, and we'll take the rest of these monsters for you," Ryoshi said, while motioning with his hands.

Match gave me a reluctant nod despite her sweat continuously slipping from her face. There was without a doubt that this pair had trouble fighting against these monsters. I wanted to support them, but Okami needed my hand against this Kraken.

"Red, we need to go! Right now!" Okami shouted, while gesturing for me to leap from the ground.

Despite wanting to help Okami, my legs refused to heed my call. My toes pointed in Match's direction, with my hands' yearning to help her.

However, there was no point idling around this deck, since this pair had it undercover. If I planned on joining their battle, Okami would be the only one fighting against the Kraken.

"Are you sure you can hold against this horde of sea creatures?" I asked, before I could leave Match.

"I-I will try!" Match said, while firing a blazing sphere towards the creatures.

I had no other choice but to believe Match's words. After conversing with her, I jumped from the ship and shadowed Okami's footsteps. He tried attacking the Kraken, but a flash of random lightning nearly struck him out of this world.

Luckily for him, Okami dodged the speed of lightning and avoided instant death from it. But the thunder shock wounded his arms, forcing us to fall back from our previous position.

We restted our attack and changed our course in the plan, waiting for Okami to heal up his wounds. Because of his passive ability, his injuries healed quicker than a normal player, which became useful in this fight.

However, we still needed to break through that thick skin the Kraken had before we could land a hit. We also needed to use the element of lightning if we wished to kill that monster and progress on the island.

"Are you okay? Maybe the Kraken could control that cloud and produce those thunder strikes?! That is no coincidence, Wolf! We need to think of something!"

"You may be right. But those clouds are not in the Kraken's favour…. Look closely."

As soon as Okami mentioned those words, my eyes witnessed the greenish liquid forming around the Kraken's skin. It was the same spot that Okami dodged the lightning bolt, which hit the sea creature's front. Since that monster could not handle lightning well, that strike pierced through that thick skin and injured the beast.

"We need to direct it somehow…. Someone has to take the bait," Wolf muttered, and dashed straight towards the Kraken.

But as soon as he tried to mimic the thing he did again, that lightning finally caught him.

Okami had the speed of a jaguar chasing for its prey. He was even faster than the bullets fired by those guns. However, Wolf could barely dodge the lightning bolts. Since he was not using his main account, those lightning bolts moved faster than him.

"C-Can you move?" I asked.

Okami only shook his head at his reply.