NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

Chapter 43 - Surviving The Burns

There was no time for me to react and help Match. So I placed her behind my back and carried the little girl to the carriage.

She weighed like a feather, and her breath became weak. Although Match was still a growing little girl, she had the heart of a warrior. Seeing her right now made me worried. My expression gave me away.

"I told you to stay, Match," I whispered while shaking my head. "I do not want you to be involved in this."

I did not want her to be a part in my revenge. She needed to stay away as far as possible in the war, but here she was, resting in my hands.

If this girl had not come for me, I would have died from the blast. It was thanks to Match that I made it out alive. But with the cause of her blazed arms.

Match drove the carriage all by herself. No kid could actually have done it, but she did. Match was courageous enough to operate the cart. It may be with the help of her system, but it still was a chivalrous feat from her side.

I can still remember the fiery flames devouring the projectiles aimed at me. The players had no chance against the orange ignition. Their bodies became dust and turned pixelated right after telling me they died.

Match killed them. It was the first death count she had made. But I planned on not bringing the topic up for the time being. All that mattered right now was her safety and mine. We had yet to reach the outskirts of Nirvana.

We still needed to escape, bringing with us the emerald obelisk. I still contained the viridescent resin inside my pockets. The gemstone refused to go inside my inventory, given that it was a valuable piece of Code. I also had the spare weapon with me inside my inventory.

There was also this stave gripped in Match's hands that I stored earlier. I did not know how she got it, but I left that topic for later.

I whipped the rope grasped in my hands and ordered the horses to sprint towards the exit. With the help of my system, the map told me that there was a passage parallel from the ingress. It meant that somewhere in the forest's end, there should be a hole that would greet our eyes.

The cart drove to the tracks and passed by multiple elves and players fighting against each other. It was a heated field filled with bloodshed and amputated limbs flying across the skies. The situation looked grim for the players, especially when disadvantages laid upon them. Since there were many elves and a couple of adventurers in their place, those players could not fight them. They lacked the numbers that the elves had.

The long-eared elves also had the upper hand, and used their terrain to their advantage. Despite having the experience to fight, those players did not stand a chance against the rangers.

I was fortunate enough to slip by their attention and raced through the bumpy road. The trees became my enemy, which kept descending in my direction. The magic attacks that came from the players razored the forest, leading to the destruction of the place.

I needed to hurry and leave the place alive.

I embraced Match's unconscious body tighter as I made a sharp turn on the right. The carriage quivered in the sudden direction, but it was not enough to tumble us to the ground. I thrashed the cord once again, hoping that these animals would pick the pace. And they did.

The horses clamoured a neigh and rushed towards the mouth of the forest. Upon leaving the woodland, the mountain's bottom welcomed my eyes. It was the saving grace we had from this expedition.

We can finally flee from this fiendish place.

I spared a glimpse behind and checked if someone schemed to tail us behind. Match and I were fortunate enough to see that nobody followed us. I can never be sure whether that Wolf would obstruct my goal once more.

"We're finally here, Match. Just hang on tight. I will never leave you behind." I announced, and blasted through the narrow wall.

The cart withstood the crash and continued progressing towards the exit. The system also stated that we left Nirvana once and for all. No players trailed our tracks as I controlled the carriage towards the road.

However, Match could not hold on for much longer. Her breaths became rigid and quick. She had been gasping for air during that escape.

"Hold on for a little longer, Match. We are almost there." I reassured, and caressed my hand on the girl.

Match curled up like a fetus and rested on my thighs. I could not let her nestle at the back, since the cart was shaky during the trip. I did not want to risk her falling from her make-shift bed without my notice.

'I need to go somewhere safe, away from Nirvana,' I thought, and advanced.

The smell of something burning caught up to my nostrils and filled the air with dark clouds. As I looked above, the cumulonimbus clouds flew to the mountain, towards Nirvana.

"It seems it is going to rain." Upon expressing my thoughts, a drizzle of tears descended from the heavens. It almost felt like the weather was mourning someone who had died.

I hauled the ropes and stopped the carriage from moving. There was a gigantic tree with its towering leaves that could shield us from the rain. I did not want Match to catch a cold, so stopping by should be a wise decision.

I parked the cart at the bark and placed Match on the leaves. I made sure she was comfortable in her position as I planned, giving her immediate aid to her wounds.

My eyes greeted the pulsating skin found both at her hands. It almost looked like molten lava that emerged from her hands. The warm temperature kept spreading to her body, with the crimson spots showing on her fingers.

The humid and chilly air cooled off the heat coming from Match's hands. It helped ease her pain from extracting any further from her limbs. But it was not enough to soothe her sensation and close her wounds.

"Inventory, inventory! I have a red and blue potion with me!" I opened my system and snatched the two flasks from my bag.

Two potions with dissimilar colours materialised in my hands. It was the health potion and the mana potion that the merchant had offered. Beside them was the leftover meal that we had not touched since then, but we did not need those nourishments right now.

I summoned my screen and used [scan] to Match. My system marked Match as my sister, so checking her information became uncomplicated to me. As soon as the window popped up at my fore, I read what the system wrote beside her name.

Two bars with crimson and azure colour addressed my eyes. The scarlet rod identified itself as the health points, and the cerulean one claimed it was the mana. Both of the bars reached the left side, showing me that Match was in grave danger.

The system also described Match's fingers as "burned". It was a condition that slowly consumed her health points to 0. I had an inkling that once the bar hits rock bottom, Match would die and become pixelated like the others.

[A red potion. It will heal most of the wounds and infections. Will restore your stamina and health points.]

[A blue potion. It will heal your magic capacity and stamina. If you have full mana, the blue potion will expand your capacity within a limited duration. Once your mana falls to 0, you cannot cast any magic. Your body will also feel sluggish.]

An instruction appeared before me, with the automated voice narrating its descriptions. I knew that the red and blue potions could heal your health points and mana capacity, but I did not know how they worked. I did not have any reasons to use it, so I became ignorant about these potions.

"Here, Match. A red potion. Please drink it, okay? It will make you feel better." I raised Match's head and lifted the flask to her lips. Using the force of gravity, I poured the contents of the red liquid into her mouth.

Match willingly gulped everything from the container. After a few seconds, a glowing crimson light covered both her hands. It took the radiance a minute before the light had faded away, revealing her closed wounds.

Her skin improved after drinking the red potion. There were miniature cuts and holes from here and there, but the major burned area covered her wounds. The heat that was spreading to her skin had simmered down, showing the steam fluttering above Match's hands.

A terrible bark escaped from Match's lips. She coughed out some blood that got stuck inside of her lungs.

I did the same with the blue potion and hoped for the best.