NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

According to Stormfly, there was a beast slumbering inside this den. And that monster could destroy an entire army of them within a few hours! I did not know why, but the dragonewts contained such a frightening fiend just below their town. 

I could only wonder how those villagers would react if they noticed something spiralling below them. 

There was a space between the tunnel, but had no light inside. As stated by stormfly, we did not have to illuminate that area. Because if we did, we might anger the monster residing in this place.

As we entered forth inside the dim tunnel, my foot stepped on a pebble. Upon crushing the stone, a cracking sound echoed inside the cave. That sound would be enough to alert anyone inside this passageway. 

And that only meant one thing. That monster would be hot on our tails if that happened.

All the hairs inside my body rose like thorns attached to a rose. Someone from behind me sent killing intentions in my direction. It almost felt like my body would disappear if I moved it wrong.

As I turned around, a crimson eye glared at my figure. The eyeball was bigger than anything I had seen before. And that eye never blinked even after a minuted had passed.

Throughout those sixty seconds, my body froze in place, refusing to move. Despite wiggling my hands, my body rejected my command at the sight of this fiendish being.

"Do not jerk, Red. Even without looking, I know that the monster took a like on you," Stormfly warned, with his back in front of me. "Do not use any skills. It would only anger the monster. It can sense fear and arcane. As soon as you use your skill, that monster will hunt you down until it gets bored." 

"And if that happens, I cannot defend you. The two of us would run straight inside the treasure room while hoping for the best," Stormfly continued, as he studied the situation.

"I'm working on it," I whispered, while stealing a glance at the titanic monster. 

Fortunately, the light coming from the torch revealed the monster's partial face. But I didn't think that was a great idea, after all.

Upon shining the unlit space, an ancient skin made of slimy scales entered our sight. It was the eye socket of this monster in front of me.

Judging by those scaly skin, I could deduce that this monster was a reptile. If I could guess it right, this beast sleeping underground might be a hundred years old earth dragon.

Earth dragons ruled the land, while the dragons with wings (Western dragons) governed the skies. Although the game developers eradicated all of them inside the game, there were still some that remained hiding from the player's sight. 

"Nice….and slowly…," I murmured to myself, yearning to escape this place alice.

But as soon as I turned around, the creature behind me growled a massive screech. That voice was enough to tremble the cave's ceiling. Since that occurred, stones from above fell on top of our heads. Thankfully, none of those pebbles got us injured.

When that happened, my two feet stepped back with my arms already shielding my front. I wanted to slash the earth dragon using my penitent's blade but thought twice about it. If I charged straight towards a monster without a plan, I would lose that battle.

Okami was the one who taught me that throughout the years we spent together as a team. 

Without heeding Stormfly's instructions, I instinctively activated my [shadow walk] and ran onwards. The system obeyed my words and covered myself with black aura meant to conceal my skin. Within a few seconds, I became invisible in the naked eye.

But I doubted that this dragon would buy such a cheap trick and stop on its track.

Stormfly also mentioned earlier that the two of us had no chance in fighting that monster. All that we could do right now was to run away inside the treasure room, wishing that it won't reach us. However, that wish was far too late to happen, especially when the dragon reached out its arms to attack us.

Luckily, Stormfly and I were feet apart from the dragon's assault. When the reptile realised its mistake, it retracted its arm and glared at us for the second time.

But instead of giving up, the dragon opened its mouth and spit flames from its mouth. As soon as I witnessed that blast, my mother's words echoed inside my head.

"All dragons can blow flames from their mouth, Red. Those fires coming from their mouths aren't regular flames found in the kitchen! It's even hotter than lava, you know!" Those words my brain remembered weren't helpful in this crisis!

As we dashed forward, my eyes caught a glimpse of Stormfly's method of running. I used my [shadow walk] which allowed me to run faster than an average adventurer. Even Okami praised my skill since I could catch up to him with this bad boy activated.

However, my system told me that Stormfly did not activate anything. I also did not see him use any spells when we ran away from the earth dragon.

As I narrowed my eyes, Stromfly's feet gave away the answer. Since he was also a reptile, his feet granted him enhanced movement speed. Those improved body parts were like the ones Okami had after transforming into his wolf form. But if I had to compare Stormfly to Okami, Stormfly had the better cards.

Stormfly did not have to use any mana while using that form. It was a part of him, which helped him in battles. 

As luck would have it, the flames that the dragons spewed did not reach us. Those bloody blaze disappeared as soon as Stormfly and I reached a certain distance away from the creature.

Even though the fire did not touch us, the two of us continued sprinting onwards. We did not want to risk ourselves fighting the dragon, considering the overlapping strength between us. It was like pairing up a stick against a bastard sword. It was an inevitable fight, which the stick would clearly lose.

Maybe if I had Okami, Ryoshi, and Match we would have defeated the monster. But that situation would not happen any time soon.

Within a few seconds, we arrived in front of a strange looking gate made of bronze. The door did not have anything but scribbles on the surface, with markings of something I did not know. After a minute of gasping some air, Stormfly walked ahead, knelt down, and touched the writings at our fore.

"We're here," Stormfly mumbled, and stood from the ground.

"Already?" I voiced out, and waited for everything to unfold. "How about the earth dragon we faced earlier? Will that thing chase us around?"

Stormfly shook his head and answered, "I doubt that will happen. That dragon has a mind of its own, sometimes. The dragon was dormant for five years. And the next thing we knew, that reptile would wreak havoc inside this tunnel. It's also the reason why some of our stuff got damaged from this beast. But we can't just relocate everything, since the dragon likes the artefacts inside the treasure room."

But before Stormfly could enter the room, he looked at me and asked, "I am surprised you know your lessons well, Red. Some people would not be aware of earth dragons. Even players would have a hard time guessing that monster. But you...You hunched it on your first try."

I scratched my chin and answered, "It's nothing. And besides, we fought Alice. That's an absurd feat than this dragon."

"And we lost….I lost everything," I continued, and mumbled the rest.

Stormfly did not mind the latter part of my sentence as he finally opened the door. After outrunning the earth dragon, we could collect the things inside the treasure room. But as claimed by Stormfly, we would only take what we needed inside this area. If we took more than what we needed, the earth dragon would hunt us down.

"Do we have any means of returning to the surface? Don't tell me we have to get back from the tunnel and meet with the earth dragon again, do we?" I asked, while sending thousands of question marks to Stormfly.

"That's actually an interesting query. We'll see as we enter the treasure room."

Stormfly did not answer my question and continued onward inside the site. I followed suit and marvelled at the sight of various items lying on the ground. 

There were dozens of swords, shields, arrows, and other weapons resting on every angle. Our feet even trod a stream of gold coins as we proceeded inside the room. As I squinted my eyes, there were countless unopened scrolls greeting my eyes.

But even though my hands had an itch I wanted to scratch, I couldn't. 

It was what Stormfly had mentioned. If we took something inside, the earth dragon may attack us.. Everything we saw had arcane contained inside of it.