NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

Chapter 10 - Escape

I pushed the rock away and stepped foot inside the citadel. The tunnel led me inside an empty kitchen since the chefs and other staff had to leave from the troubles. The crowned head hired none of them as assassins or trained NPC to kill anyone. I knew them from my previous adventuring days, so it made sense that the royalties evacuated them first before the King himself.

I peeked through the bustling hall and noticed soldiers cladded in steel and armour plates roaming around the castle doors. All of them marched through an open chamber, bringing with them gigantic boulders and shafts comparable to my size. They prepared the ballistas and other armouries outside and fired them next to the towering gate.

The blast from the bolts and stones shook the ground. It even created a massive crater in front of the terrain, killing the players and surrounding civilians instantly. Fortunately, these adventurers did not die from the crash, since they were players inside the game.

Only non-player characters die from this world.

I concealed myself using the skill [wolf walk] and went down the series of steps to the throne.

[Wolf Walk] is a spell that players used to grant them stealth and concealment to infiltrate or surprise opponents. The duration of the magic depends on the level of the player.

The guards were not aware of my presence despite their high levels and prestigious statuses. Those emblems were still not for show, since they could somehow notice someone creeping upon them. But the guards were too late to react as I slid inside the gates and deactivated my spell.

The elite soldiers inside the room noticed me instantly as my body materialised from the magic. Armed with staves, bows, and blades, these bodyguards flocked around me and ordered me to identify myself.

They thought of me as an intruder to kill the majesty.

From the beginning of entering this game, I was not planning to behead the crown or kidnap his family. Besides the primary quest, a hidden quest would activate once you compromised with the victim, and right now, the head of state was the centre of that attraction.

Some missions had an underlying message that was more valuable than the initial task, especially when killing or protecting someone. If the job asked players to kill someone and that adventurer guarded the target, the non-player victim would reward the player for keeping their lives.

The same situation goes with the mainland's ruler.

"I am not here to kill you, Arthur Pendragon." I expressed.

The soldiers narrowed their eyes and pointed their weapons at me, despite telling them my claims. But upon motioning his hand, King Arthur silenced the elite guards.

"Fenrir?" Arthur asked. "Is that really you?"

I nodded. "Yes."

In this world, non-player characters remembered all the names they encountered throughout the years. Even though players skip playing the game for days, weeks, or even months, the non-playable characters inside Code remembered them and their legacies.

I was a knight hired by the Mainland empire to protect the city from a terrifying dragon. The mythical creature was one of the famous bosses of the game, but nobody could damage the beast. Every nation raised the rewards, and would make a peasant like me become stinking rich after winning the battle. After I slew the flying lizard, the bounties I received paid off our debts to the companies and banks. With added interests and fees, the organisation left us with nothing after giving them the money.

King Arthur Ragon knew me by the name of Fenrir, the Lycan who defended the city walls.

"Let him through. He is not a threat but a friend of mine."

The guards unhanded me at once and escorted me near the throne. Arthur did not sit on the royal seat but offered a typical but silver-like chair. He motioned his hands and invited me to sit beside him. I perched on the vacant chair and expressed my gratitude.

"Why would someone order your downfall, Arthur?" I asked.

The king shook his head and answered. "It must have been the other countries or the Dragonewts."

I raised a brow while listening to his explanation. The maids entered the room and brought two glasses filled with herbal tea to relax the majesty. We were in a dire situation and required a steel and calm mind to decide.

The mob and other NPC outside were on Arthur's side. But they could do nothing besides protest on the streets, claiming the innocence of their ruler. Some adventurers who thought the mission was unfit joined the rally.

However, the veteran players deftly took care of the justice geeks, hoping to snatch the rewards for themselves.

"Neither the dragonewts nor the neighbouring kingdom did this." I pronounced.

All the people inside the room locked eyes on my figure. Even the guards, who usually looked ahead, gawked at me.

Arthur replied, "If that is not the case, who did?"

Before I could give him my opinion, a sudden and blaring blow disrupted our conversation. The explosion from the gates came from the players breaching inside the fort.

The skirmish continued below the floors as the adventurers made their way to the series of steps. The guards outside did their best to delay the inevitable, but it was not long before the players broke through the king's room.

"Let us move, your majesty,"

The elite knight pulled Arthur's arm and suggested moving towards the walls. With a grunt, the ruler nodded and followed his lead. After fidgeting with the stones, the walls drifted apart, creating a narrow passage elsewhere inside the castle. According to the guards, Arthur's family is on the other side of the tunnel, waiting for our arrival.

"There is a carriage outside the forest." The elite soldier added.

We planned to escape from the citadel and request any help from the neighbouring empires and towns. If we would be lucky, all of us could ask for a helping hand from the elves in the woodlands.

The underpass extended from the sewer I travelled from entering the castle earlier. It showed the same mossy platforms and the acrid turds resting at each corner, haunting us at each side. There were even alligators and other marine creatures lurking around our vicinity. But the soldiers could detect such anomalies from miles away, making our trip safe as possible from the hungry beasts.

Each of the knights had the strength of an average player who had just played the game. Because of their vigorous training, the soldiers can stand toe-to-toe against veteran players if they go all out.

At the end of the road, we arrived at the room and met Arthur's daughter and his wife resting in a bedroom. Elite female knights guarded the chamber, protecting them from what was about to come from the halls.

Arthur ran towards the two and embraced them with all their might. A stream of tears soon slid from their eyelids and onto their shoulders. It even created a puddle of salty water beside their feet, wetting the ground and our boots. Their wails resounded the room as I watched them from afar, uncertain what to feel about the scene.

I knew that these unplayable characters had their dialogues and backstory scripted and made by the developers. However, I had my doubts about seeing them firsthand. Who could have thought that this NPC had feelings? They could feel sad, happy, angry, and overwhelmed like the players.

They were like us, but created through the use of technology.

After a few minutes, the general walked up to them and urged the royalties to escape the building before it was too late. The king nodded in response and ordered the knights to escort us.

I was the first one to open the door and kill the players waiting in the corridors. Before they could even react, I used my [wolf walk] and assassinated anyone obstructing our way. While peeking through the side, I saw the maids and butlers buying us some time and conversed with the adventurers. They knew what was going on, so they did what they could to stop the advancement of the players.

I did not feel any problems at all in murdering the players in the game. Long before the game became popular, the community hailed me as a PK player or player killer and stole their valuables and experiences for my own.

We saw the glimmer of moonglades from the lake on the other end of the tunnel. If we squinted our eyes, all of us could see the shape of the horse and the carriage waiting for our presence. However, things did not go the way we wanted.

The players also deduced our escape and expected us to exit the castle. As soon as we stepped to our feet on the plain, two players careered in front of me. They grazed the side of my armour enough to damage my health points or HP. I heard a clunking sound over to my side as the dagger hit my steel shoulder blades.

I used my [wolf walk] to my advantage and sliced their necks using my blade. The tip of my knife cut deep on the adventurer and eventually killed him off or logging him out of the game. I did the same thing to the other bloke who had a twig as his choice of weapon. With one swing of my knife, the player had no chance of winning against me.

Every time a player dies, sparkles of light would surround the corpse. After a few moments, the motionless body would disappear from our sight. A screen would notify the player that the game, Code, kicked him or her out of the game.

The knights from my flanks battled the adventurers at the side. There were dozens of players waiting for us outside armed with weapons and staves of beginner and legend class weapons. Even the veteran and trained knights of the mainland had difficulties fighting against a paying user of Code who had glowing radiance coating their armours and weapons.

I had to interfere with their fight since they did not stand a chance against the players.. Although there was a gap against levels, I could still take them out if I was serious.