NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

"You're doing great, Match!" I whispered, hoping that Match heard my compliment. "Just keep throwing twigs at them! But not right now, since the two are already running away!"

That little girl tried forcing the two boars out of their group. So we could kill them. Once we isolated the two swines, doing it again for the remaining five hogs would be a piece of cake. At least, I thought that would be the case.

The two boars did what I had expected, as the pair went ahead to the forest. They did not make a sound and continued ramming at the towering trees. But what I did not know was the pigs sprinted farther away than what I had calculated! I thought that these two pigs would reach around one kilometre at most in their journey.

But I thought wrong! It was as if the hogs were escaping an ominous predator that woke them from their sleep.

My eyes gazed at Match and non-verbally told her about the situation. I moved my hands from all directions before chasing the two hogs from getting away. She returned my gesture, raised her arm, and gave me a nod. I could only guess what she wanted to say as I listened to her silent mumblings.

"I don't know what you're saying, but, okay!" Match gave me a thumbs up and wiggled her fingers. That's what I think Match had explained to me.

That gesture was the only thing I understood from Match. I just hoped that she would do nothing stupid to the remaining five boars nestled in their place. If she schemed to do something beyond the scheme I instructed, it would pose a problem to the two of us.

I darted through the sea of trees and caught sight of the boars racing away from me. These animals did not have any direction they wanted to go. All they knew was to run from the unseeable danger that alerted their senses.

"Like wild animals they are, these animals are nuts! Why do hogs always cause some trouble for me!? I prefer chasing down rabbits, since they're more adorable than these pigs!" I asked myself, and continued hopping from one branch after the other.

Thanks to my exercises with Match, my stamina and footwork came to fruit for chasing down my targets. I did not need to catch my breath now and then compared to my previous body.

I was an assassin that could kill anyone without fighting. I killed the two prominent rules in Code by slitting their throats. With one sweep of my blade, their necks came gushing out blood. And that killing spree would continue until I finished this game! At least, that image was what I believed in. That confidence let me live until this day.

The two boars came to a complete stop as they crashed their heads against a stone wall. A glen stood in front of them, but the two boars were too sizeable to fit in that hole. Even if the animals tried, I doubt the boars could go through that tunnel.

'It's the end of the line for them and the beginning for me!' I thought, and unsheathed my dagger from my waist.

The penitent's blade emerged from my hands, itching to kill anyone I deemed as my opponent. I clipped the dagger between my fingers and readied myself for an upcoming fight against these animals.

Instead of blindly pouncing at the two boars, I waited. The bough that carried the weight of my body wiggled every time I made a jerk. But the surrounding branches looked skinnier than Match's arms. It looked like these twigs would fall off the ground the second I hopped in that area!

'I need to be careful where I launch my attack. If not, those boars would make me human meat!' I ruminated, and thought of a plan.

The boars did not look like they would run away with no warnings. And here I thought these animals had exhausted their feet! Since they had been running around for a while now, that was what I guessed. As I had hunched, the hogs rested their bodies on the ground, hoping to take a brief nap. All those running they did became all for nought.

'If these animals planned on sleeping now, why would they run away from their group!?' Nothing made sense, as I continued watching the two pigs. And it was not my job to understand these hogs, anyway.

All I had to do was kill them and put them inside my [astral space]. Although the blood of these animals would notify some monsters lurking in the forest, I had no other choice but to kill these hogs right now. These two were in front of my face, waiting for somebody to kill them. And that somebody was me.

After a few seconds of contemplating with myself, I finally made my move. I launched my body downwards and used the branch as a propeller to increase my speed. I zoomed in like an arrow, strummed by a bow, with my dagger directed in front of me.

Before landing on the ground, I aimed my blade at the pig and sliced its entire neck in half. With all the snipping sounds, the pig winced in pain and let out an agonistic cry.

Blood kept gushing out from the hole I created from the hog as I landed on the ground. A warm puddle of crimson liquid drenched my feet, but I paid it no mind. The other boar jolted awake and saw its dead kin lying on the ground. The corpse alarmed the awoken boar as it glued its orbs at my figure.

The wild hog wanted revenge as it grunted at my sight. It pawed with its forefeet and sent the dirt flying behind its back. I could only assume that these motions that the boar instilled a threatening aura to me, as the killer of its comrade.

But I was immune to such petty warnings, considering all the hardships and near-death experiences I went through with the battle in Nirvana. This occurrence was nothing compared to those wars I had with the players.

'I already killed one hog. Killing another should not be a problem for me.' I thought, and danced with the boar.

The boar launched itself like a cannonball in my direction, with its tusk pointing at my face. I ran towards the animal and slid to the side. I positioned my blade to slice the hog's body, hoping to wound the animal. A snipping sound reverberated through the forest, which came from my dagger penetrating the hog's fur skin.

The pig howled in pain and tumbled to the ground. But it got back up and blew a haze through its nose. Its bloodshot eyes told me everything it felt, with the killing intent overflowing from the animal's body.

It was the battle of the fittest where one would live, and the other creature must die. The boar had its life on the line, but it was far too late for the animal to live. With those opened wounds I cut using my dagger, the boar might even end up dead because of blood loss.

"[Shadow walk]" Although I disliked it, I used my skill and roamed around the place.

The pitch-black environment surrounding us helped me glide through the trees without the boar guessing where I could bolt around.

This skill proved to be a powerful asset of mine during the night. Since this ability uses shadow as a medium to travel, everything I saw became pavement.

The boar could do nothing about my skill. It let out a screeching exhale and schemed to run away. But with my spell activated, there was no place that it could escape besides death.

I slashed my dagger to the boar and killed it. A clean-cut landed on the pig's skin, resulting in its quick death. Like the people I killed, I was fond of slicing anything that obstructed my way. This dagger helped me do what I had to do, especially in this battle.

I sauntered towards the boar and placed the corpse inside the [astral space]. I did the same with the other corpse from behind. After placing the two animals inside my stash, I leapt from the ground and travelled back to Match.

"That training with Match was really helpful for the two of us," I murmured, and reminisced about the training days we had.

Now that I had killed the two boars, Match and I needed to kill the remaining five in their nest. We could do the same procedure again, but it might take us some time. The sun might rise from the east before we could collect all seven boars in this forest. The villagers might already starve if we kept them waiting for the food. So it was best to hurry and finish this mission before that could happen.

As soon as I arrived at the site, I saw Match on the ground. She scratched her forehead and let out a faint laugh.

"I woke up all the five hogs, Red… sorry…"