NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

"I told you not to do anything stupid while I was gone!" I scolded Match, who was leaping from one branch after the other.

The little girl fell to the ground and hit her bottom. A bleating cry fled from her mouth as Match stood back up with me.

"I didn't! And you told me to throw twigs at them while you were gone! I just did what you told me!" Match retorted.

We had a non-verbal conversation before I pursued the two hogs. I thought that Match understood my instructions. But that occurrence came back and bit me from behind.

"And here I was, hoping that you understood a single thing I've said."

"But I did!" Match riposted.

"We have other things to take care of. And don't worry, Match. It's not your fault. Those pigs would have done that, anyway."

The Match, who was about to cry, fought back her tears as she heard my sentence. It was as if she perceived a glimmer of hope to revert her usual self from weeping a million tears.

I squinted my eyes and greeted the five boars that Match woke up. Those animals were charging straight in our direction, with their tusk pointed at us.

"Run backwards! And don't let them chase us! We need to kill them while outrunning them!" I shouted.

Match knew what she needed to do. She listened to my instructions and dashed towards the forest from where I went before. I followed behind, but I wanted to slow the animals down.

I conjured my enchanted bow and propelled a dart towards the herd. My arrow hit the hog's head and tumbled to the ground. A splatter of blood exploded from the animal's body, which also spilt on the floor. The other boars who witnessed the scene cared not for their dead comrade as they still pursued our tails.

After taking down one, I resumed running with Match. Since my legs were wider than Match, I caught up to her side. It was only about time she noticed I was beside her.

With widened eyes, the little girl snorted, "Yeah, yeah. You're quicker than me, Red. I get it."

In the back of Match's mind, this occurrence felt like a competition to her. But Match knew that we needed to survive, or else our adventure would end from here. Two non-player characters who wanted a change in this world got defeated by mere hogs in the forest.

It would become a perfect joke for the people trapped inside this game.

I turned around and took another shaft from my quiver and aimed at the mob. Those four beasts kept running towards us with intense speed. Although we were speedier than them, Match and I only had two legs. Our opponents had four limbs that they used to sprint towards us.

It was an unfair fight against two human beings.

I launched another arrow and hit a boar's body. With a terrifying squeal, the stricken hog fell at its side and slammed on the ground. It winced a few times, but it could not get up. That wound on its body was enough to stop the boar in its tracks.

"Three more to go," I mumbled to myself, and readied another set of arrows.

All those shots that I took hit my target. But that did not mean my shot would hit the third time around. Although there was a saying, "third time's a charm," I would bet that won't happen to me.

And I jinxed it.

I did what I had done before and discharged another bolt towards the herd. But these three animals knew what was coming after them. So they went to the side and into the forest.

One boar went to the left side, while the other headed towards the right. The other boar remained at the road and continued running in plain sight, since the two were already at the sides.

The right side had more grass than trees compared to the left side. It was as if there was a meadow filled with nothing but a green field. No roses or flowers bloomed in that place. There was only the grassland on the Eastside.

They used the trees and bushes to camouflage themselves from my view. These animals did a great job in hiding their presence while still chasing our behinds. The only thing that we needed to do now was to kill the boar in the middle and monitor the other two at our flanks.

But that was the problem. We did not know when these boars at the sides would appear before us. These animals might strike when the time would become ripe.

"We need to focus our attack on the middle hog," I said, and continued. "Keep your eyes also peeled at our side. We don't know when those boars will show up."

"Aye, Red!" Match replied, and added. "Should I use my fire powers to stop the other boar on my right?"

Match's suggestion echoed inside my head. That thought got me thinking about whether to use her abilities in this pursuit. After calculating various possibilities in my head, I clicked my mouth and gave Match my answer.

"I think I have an idea, Match. But I think you'd not like this even one bit!"

The little girl tilted her head, gulped, and asked, "What is it? Don't tell me I'll play the decoy?! I hate it when you do that!"

I shook my head. "No, not that. I need you to use your powers differently."

"Like how?"

I directed my gaze at my right-where Match was, and explained, "If you can use your powers to create fire, you can also devour fire. Since your area has more grass than mine, the fire would spread less if you planned to burn the entire place down. Prove to me that my theory is right and suck all those embers to our hand! You go handle the pig on the right, and I will handle mine on my left and the middle."

"Wha-? Red!!!"

Match's growling voice resounded from the forest. I almost perceived it as a boar if it were not for me nudging her at the sides. Since Match would deal with the boar on the right, I needed some space to deal with these two boars.

I clipped my dagger in my mouth and planned on slicing through the skin of these animals in this position. Both of my hands continuously riled up other shafts and fired at the boar.

The pig in front of me did its best to avoid getting hit by the arrow. However, there was little for the piglet to do, considering the speed of my bolts. I activated my right eye, hoping to enhance my senses and hit the animal once and for all.

Thanks to my training, my eyesight and reaction time saved me from all that trouble. After firing the last arrow, the pig howled in pain and crashed against the ground. The shaft hit the pig's head, just like what happened to the hog before. It was a clean shot that even Match would feel impressed if she could see what I did.

"Bullseye!" I remarked, but I recalled that my battle had yet finished.

There was still one pig that still roamed around on my right.

After collecting the boar's corpse, I went back towards the forest on my left side and searched for the boar. Since I had already taken care of the hog in the middle, this boar would not pose a problem.

But I had thought wrong.

The boar charged straight towards me and tackled me using its head. I was fortunate enough to dodge it at the last second and avoided the razor-sharp ends of its tusk. If that ivory horn hit me, that could have ruptured my organs and my chest, leading to my death.

"That was a close call," I murmured, and palpated my heart, beating for a gazillion times per minute.

After assaulting me, the boar went back into the shadows and used the darkness to its advantage. Like a hunter in the night, the pig cloaked itself with the pitch-black environment, thinking it would slip away from my sight.

However, the shadow surrounding us was my friend. If there was more shadow, I could roam wherever I want in this setting.

I activated my skill and used [shadow walk] to secure the boar in my stash. Upon triggering my ability, my body became as light as a feather while I went everywhere that the shadow had touched. It allowed me to zoom in the dark areas where light could not penetrate.

But this skill was not as overpowered as it looked. It had a duration of about a minute and would deactivate itself. Sometimes it lasted for five minutes, but I did not know why. It almost felt like this skill had a mind of its own.

But I paid no attention to that. My utmost priority was to kill this beast and help Match afterwards.

During my trip, the boar, who was still hiding behind the bark, could not notice my figure at all. It was a checkmate for the boar, as I won the battle.

"