NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

"We have at least a minute left to stop this golem from pulverizing us into rice cakes," Okami announced, as he gasped for air. "Ryoshi, we need you here. There's no point in hiding our ace now. We need you in this fight, and we need your bolts."

"I would come out even without your instructions, Okami. Man, it feels good to join in this battle instead of waiting for you guys."

Within a few seconds, Ryoshi appeared from the forest, revealing his recurve gripped in his hands. Another force joined the attack, which would probably bring us to victory. Since Ryoshi would join us in the attack, our chances should increase by two folds.

However, things didn't go as well as we had expected.

As soon as Ryoshi walked closer in our direction, he had already prepared multiple arrows in his hands and flung them using his recurve.. Those bolts he discharged looked like something he did not plan, which was also evident from his looks. That smirking mouth of his was enough to tell that the darts came off randomly from his hands.

Ryoshi knew to attack the golem without thinking about it from the chat message by Okami. Since he had an idea before arriving at this place, Ryoshi blindly shot his arrows in the golem's direction.

Thanks to his random assault, those arrows mixed with various elements crashed against the puppet. That attack dealt some damage to our enemy, but it was not enough to take it down.

While Ryoshi discharged those arrows, he concealed his barrier dart on the side, preparing it for our next attack. He didn't plan that part as he deliberately placed it out of luck for our next attack. I did not know if Okami and Match knew about it, but I was aware of that tactic.

It all came down to our options on how we could use that spare arrow on the ground.

"We can finally fight this battle without a plan…. and we have less than a minute to fight that thing," Ryoshi said, while gazing at the golems at each side. "And we need to trap this puppet up."

"Yeah. We better do that right, Ryoshi," Okami seconded, as the two of them prepared their stances. "Let's go, everyone. We have one chance to do this."

Judging by Okami's reactions, he may not have observed Ryoshi's risky plan. Well, that ignorance could benefit us, since the puppet would disregard that arrow as something useless on the battlefield. And if that golem did not know our scheme, the puppet won't do anything about it.

Match prepared another set of blazing fire and scattered it towards the golem. She didn't even plan on landing that blaze against that puppet. As long as she conjured her spells in the puppet's direction (without planning it to land), Match would do just that.

Ryoshi did the same thing as Match. He fired a barrage of darts at the puppets while closing his eyes. He could focus on his targets without looking, which also made him attack without thinking about the scene. That action he did was enough to confuse the puppet, which led him to hit his darts against our enemy.

Okami and I charged straight at the puppet and tried to lock it on the ground. Okami took the puppet's right as I clashed against the golem's left.

We had the puppet cornered for a few seconds. However, something happened at the golem.

Before we could push the puppet to its wit's end, the puppet summoned a magic circle in front of its body. That magic circle had various runes imprinted on it. Those texts made the spell more devastating than what Match currently had.

Match and Ryoshi tried launching their attacks on the puppet, but it was to no avail. Their bolts and fire magic did not scratch the puppet or disrupt its concentration. Those attacks that Match and Ryoshi did even angered the puppet. It even caused the golem to produce sparks surrounding the magic circle, creating a gigantic dome of arcane in the place.

Instead of using her magic spells offensively, Match conjured protective fire armour on our skin. She deduced that the intensity of the puppet's magic was so severe that Match needed to apply for some protection.

Ryoshi placed some darts surrounding us and activated a weaker shield from the one that could trap the puppets. Even Ryoshi had his eyes glued on the puppet and the arrows.

Just before the attack, I activated my [shadow walk] and concealed myself from the puppet. Match and the others could still see me walking around, which meant that the shield remained intact on my body.

Within a few seconds, the puppet's magic circle released a blast painted into rainbow coloured hues. It was a mixture of all elements available in Code, which could be the strongest spell made in this game.

As soon as the beam came into contact with the fire shield, the barrier instantly exploded. It also got the barriers from the arrows, causing them to implode. The blast also pushed us backwards like a whirlwind from a storm. After a few moments, the blast would have blown Match off if it were not for my interventions.

I instinctively reached my hand towards Match and grabbed her closer moments before that blast. Luckily, I caught her body earlier than the explosion could.

However, Okami and Ryoshi were not lucky individuals. Ryoshi tumbled backwards, forcing himself to hit the stone. And when he crashed against the boulder, those three arrows we needed to trap the puppet scattered on the ground, together with his bow. But as I squinted my eyes, Ryoshi had his eyes closed and his body unconscious.

Okami pierced his claw on the ground and maintained his position. However, it came with a price. His body was not strong enough to withstand that blast, forcing him to receive minor injuries all over his skin. As luck would have it, all those injuries he had did not affect his vital organs.

It took ten seconds before the blast ended, which left us around thirty seconds to trap this golem. If we did not cage this puppet, the barrier trapping the other golem would deactivate. And if that happened, we would have to fight two golems while charging straight towards the gate.

Match can't even use her lava against these golems, since we needed to reserve our ammunition against Alice. That princess made these golems. It would not surprise me if she was stronger than these puppets combined. Although she got herself chained inside her castle, Alice was still one of the strongest characters in Code.

If we could not handle one golem, how could we fight against two of them? We would lose this fight without a doubt, considering we already exhausted everything we had. And if this continued for any longer, we would have to lie on the ground and give up.

But we refused to idle around. We needed to enter that castle, fight against Alice, and get the obelisk from her. It was our plan….

However, we only had thirty seconds to do just that, without thinking of our attacks. And now, we also had to fight the golem without Ryoshi, which was our ace in this fight.

"RYOSHI!" Okami shouted, as soon as he regained his composure.

Okami did not care about the wounds he received from the blast. He rushed towards his friend and checked if Ryoshi could still wake up. But after several attempts at shaking his body, Hunter did not rise from his sleep. It was as if the blast induced a special effect that let them sleep for the rest of the hours.

We needed Ryoshi in this fight to win. Now that the golem deleted him from the equation, we knew what to do against the puppet.

Okami tried using the bow and the arrows, but failed to grip them. It was as if those darts became air, despite being there in front of us. If we cannot use those arrows, it would be difficult for us to trap these golems.

"Shit! Does anyone have a plan for this? Do you know how to wield arrows?... Can we really beat that thing?" Okami exclaimed, as he looked around for some answers.

It was my first time witnessing him panic around, looking for clues he could use in this fight. However, no matter how hard Okami tried, he did not find the answer to our problem.

The golem finally seized its opportunity and rushed towards Okami. Since Okami did not know what to do, he lost focus and counterattacked the golem. But by doing that, he thought of a plan and made it into action.

Since Okami neglected the rules, the puppet effortlessly dodged his attacks and gave the final blow. That attack was enough to send Okami towards the stone beside Ryoshi. Ironically, that boulder became their tombstone, despite the two of them were still alive.

Within a few seconds, I finally thought of an idea. I planned on using that bolt to my advantage and trapping the golem!