NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

"I don't want to hear it." I waved my hand, hoping Robin got the idea. "And besides, I was saving my friend here who got himself entangled with the elves."

Robin glared at Ryoshi for a second before averting his gaze back to me. "I understand. We need to get out of here fast before this whole place collapses onto us."

Robin flicked his hands and prepared his bow and arrows. He gripped his weapon and discharged a speedy bolt in our direction, destroying the metallic bars in front of us. There was a blaring crash resonating through the prison, but it was not enough to ravage the dungeon.

Robin did the same and aimed at the different cells trapping the other players. He fired each arrow for every chamber, freeing them within seconds. Thousands of silver shards exploded all around us, creating a nest of nails on the floor. The adventurers stretched their bodies and went in Robin's direction.

"It's about time you show up." one guy exclaimed.

Beside the man were his allies, I assumed. These players each had this fierce expression carved on their faces. All their eyes stared at me before shifting their line of sight to Robin.

"Do you know these kids?" the guy continued.

"I wouldn't treat him as a kid if I were you. He's a smurfer." Robin answered, and gave me a smirk.

If I had to guess their relationships, Robin and these players were in the same guild. Robin gestured his hand for us to follow behind. He did not even bother sparing a glance in our direction, knowing that Ryoshi and I had nowhere else to go but trail their figures.

"Where's your brother?" I asked, searching for the girl character with jiggling boobs.

Robin pointed his forefinger upward and answered, "Friar Tuck is on the surface, dealing with those pesky elves."

After our exchange, our conversation became stale. To make matters worse, we were climbing the series of steps without uttering a word. 'It's better this way,' I thought, and proceeded to the staircase.

We passed by the pixelated body of the elf girl floating in mid-air. The remnants of dust left by that creature made way alongside our ascent, making our trek eerie. Robin, Ryoshi, and I dared not to talk about the particles clipping to the panels, since we knew Robin was the one who killed the elf.

Robin had to end the elf's life, so there was no problem with that.

It took us fifteen minutes to reach above ground, even faster than we had experienced from before. Robin lifted the hatch and stepped foot on the cold floor. We all followed close behind and marvelled at the citadel around that all of us knew.

The ground had a chilling touch, reminding us of corpses that these players killed before entering Nirvana.

The gruesome scenery welcomed my eyes. There were hundreds of debris falling from the ceiling. 'It must have come from the battle,' I thought, as we continued on the road.

As soon as we arrived near the gate, we stumbled upon the bodies of rangers. Among those mountains of corpses, nobody found a dead player. It almost felt like the skirmish that happened was a one-sided fight.

The elves never stood a chance at all.

Upon looking ahead, various units addressed our eyes. Those people wore a black uniform with a spiral symbol sketched on their backs. The image looked like it was a comma that had an ominous feeling from afar.

"Are these the-,"

"Yes. Those are Asimov's men, plus the members of my guild, the Western Guild."

Before Ryoshi could even finish his sentence, Robin interposed and introduced the soldiers entering the field.

Each of the guards had guns gripped in their hands. These weapons were not even the assault rifles that everyone knew. All of them had unique designs that blasted blueish projectiles like bullets. Upon contact, the elves hovered from the impact and rolled to the other side of the forest. Some elves splattered their bodies in every direction, leaving a fountain of blood in the soil.

But the scarlet liquid disappeared within a few minutes and became pixelated substances. It only reminded us that everything in this world was a game.

"Why did they bring guns in Code? Isn't that illegal? And the five kingdoms were unaware of these weapons. It isn't available in the smithies!" Ryoshi exclaimed. I was not even a geek and read anything about any article from the game, but I knew that guns still did not exist in Code.

Amidst the battle, a voice alerted our attention. As we gazed at the sides, a soldier rushed to our front and saluted at Robin.

"Sir Robin, we brought you these NPCs." the soldier announced.

Robin gave a quick nod and commanded the footman to direct him towards the site. He told the other members, who he helped escape the prison, to stand by. Since this was a confidential operation, those members did not need to know who those individuals the soldiers seized.

"You need to come with me, Wolf. I still have a lot of questions to ask you, and I think you can become a valuable asset for this war." Robin added, and glared at me in the eyes.

I took a slow gulp and shook my head from up to down. "Yeah, sure. Lead the way."

"Can we bring Ryoshi with us? He's my best friend, and I hate it if I would lose him again." I nudged Ryoshi to my side and introduced him to Robin.

Robin scrutinised Ryoshi and replied, "Sure. Just tell him to be quiet on the site."

Ryoshi nodded and zipped his mouth. After our exchange, the four of us, including the soldier from before, guided us towards the citadel's side. Upon our arrival, we saw three individuals whom I recognised. It was Queen Guinevere, Eve, and Elina, the princess of Nirvana.

"You! I will kill you! You did this to us! Are you happy now that you guys killed the elves? Killed my family?!" Elina rushed to me and glared daggers in my direction.

Her feral rage made the guard act immediately, restraining her movements. The soldiers placed a special device in Elina's arms and pressed a protruding red button on the remote. After a split second, there was an electrical charge exploding in the pocket-sized device. It generated a violent shock to the poor elf's body with thick black smokes floating in the air.

Elina fell to the ground, still with her head and eyes leered at my figure. She grunted the pain, hoping that the sensation would go away. That unfortunate elf couldn't do a thing.

Elina lost everything; her kingdom, her grandmother, and even the elves she held dear. And now, the player who she thought had killed La Finta was standing in front of her. I would have done the same if I were in her shoes.

"Elina, that's enough. It's all over. We can die anytime these players want us to die. Let's just hope we learn something before that happens." Guinevere held Elina's shoulders and nudged her back. It was the only warm sensation that Elina could feel during this time, when everything was crumbling into pieces.

Eve, Guinevere's daughter, couldn't hold back her tears and cried a stream. The guards tried silencing the little girl, but Robin's brother, Friar, stepped in before the guards could even touch her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." With a single statement, the soldiers backed away. Those guards felt a sinister gaze waving in their direction. As I turned around, Robin had his eyes burning bloody-red at the soldiers.

It was a good thing that Friar had to step in, or else Robin could've murdered the two soldiers who attempted to assault such an innocent girl. Robin could kill any NPC within a snap of his fingers or a fling of his bow if I needed to be literal to describe him. But he disliked hurting any children or seeing someone doing that act. If Robin notices such a crude event, I could only pray for the poor soul's life.

"I can see you brought the little boy."

"I'm not a kid," I retorted Friar's words.

He (or she (remember, Friar is using his girl character)) gave me a grunt and switched his view towards the three NPCs. Even until now, the two Fitzooth brothers treated me as a little kid and a smurfer in this game.

"Can we stop the war if we kill these two right now? The elves and the Mainland waged war against us players, after all." Robin stated, and aimed his bow in front of the shivering Elina.

"All of us want freedom! You cannot take that away from us! Who knows who would you players kill next time we turn around our backs?! Every NPC will kill you, I swear in La Finta's name!" Elina screeched, and spitted on the ground.