NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

[Very well, Red. You've chosen well. If you wish to proceed, do it now while I'm not yet bored]

Like a devil whispering behind my ears, I went to Okami and told him my plan. Okami had all ears on me when I caught all of their attention. Since we were in desperate need of suggestions, Okami and the others had no choice but to hear me out.

"My system told me that I should enter that door over there without Alice's knowledge. I also need Match by my side to stop Alice from attacking our team! My system told me that behind that door lies the obelisk. If i snatch it from Alice, we will win this battle!" I explained.

Everyone curved their lips upwards upon hearing my news, everyone except for Match. As soon as Okami heard my narration, he immediately planned our attack while considering what I mentioned. Ryoshi was also on board with the plan, considering it was the shortest route we could trod. According to him, we wouldn't traverse any problems if we could take this path.. 

Since Alice had pushed us into a corner, those two players had no other choice but to take desperate measures.

However, there was one person who saw the truth behind the broken shards of glass.

Match kept staring at my soul, wondering something that only she could think about. That girl kept staring in my direction, waiting for the perfect chance for me to explain everything to her. But despite her patience, I never told Macth about Alice's grand plan. 

Match also kept questioning me, asking me if I was hiding something from her. I couldn't tell the truth about Alice's message. I wanted to disclose everything. But telling that information would cost us our lives in this battle.

  If I told her that, Alice might change her mind, resulting in all of our deaths. I had to take this offer. We would lose if we planned on fighting Alice in a fair match. 

I did not have any personal grudge against Okami besides being friends with Clementine's killer. Letting them live was just a consolation prize that I could offer to Okami, while escaping this place. And the only evidence I had from Alice was her word.

But it was enough for me to accept her words.

Within a few seconds, I finally rushed onwards, with Match running by my side. As soon as we sprinted forward, Ryoshi shot his arrows above us, creating a barrier from all attacks heading in our direction.

Alice, who saw us running towards the door, tried stopping our tracks. But all of those actions Alice performed were all part of our plan. As stated in our conversation, Alice would let us through that door and leave the two players behind. 

I did not care if Alice had some grudges against Okami and Hunter. But everything would turn out well if those two would end up alive after the battle. 

When the magic spells finally came in our direction, the shield protected us from those attacks. Fortunately, that rain of spells was not enough to penetrate this sturdy shield from Ryoshi. 

However, Ryoshi and Okami encountered an unfortunate fate. Alice changed her course and glided towards their figures. When Alice came face to face with the two players, Okami went in front of her and bashed her hands. Alice, who had fists made of metals, effortlessly defended Okami's attacks.

Ryoshi went into his position and fired multiple darts in Alice's direction. He had a confident smug look on his face when Ryoshi discharged all those bolts at Alice. His training and experience throughout our journey finally paid off when those arrows hit Alice.

But even though those bolts pierced through Alice, that girl had skin made of gold. Considering that Alice also had a puppet body, I doubted we could injure her with normal spell.s

As those three battled, Match and I carried on towards the designated door. It took us a few minutes to reach our destination and step foot inside the room. And when we turned around, we got teleported to a different place. 

"Where the hell are we?" I asked, and gazed at our surroundings.

My eyes widened in shock as the citadel's figure greeted us. The distance between the castle and our place was around a few metres away, which made no sense at all. Match and I did not move a muscle after getting inside the room.

  But instead of stepping foot in an enclosed space, the door led us close to Wonderland's borders. It was also the place where I first arrived on this island, which sent thousand question marks above my head.

As we gazed behind, the door was still there in front of us. But as I approached the wooden gate, the door fell and revealed nothing on the other side. It was as if someone built this door in the middle of the forest and acted like a teleportation device. 

We heeded those gadgets as forbidden arts and forgotten spells. Whoever had that ability would bring the player one step closer to victory. But the game developers introduced that spell around months after the game's release. Those people also removed it inside the game, thinking that it was too overpowered.

Since teleportation devices and abilities were too broken inside Code, all those spells vanished within seconds. Those who already made new accounts and had a skill that could freely teleport them got bribed in real life. Game developers cannot delete anything from the game, but they could add something else in Code. 

"Was that a teleportation device? Or a skill?" Match asked, as she gazed into my eyes. "And where is the obelisk you're talking about? Where are Ryoshi and Okami? What happened, Red?"

Match bombarded me with questions with some of them that I couldn't answer for now. I chose the questions I could elaborate to Match as I met her gaze.

"I think that's a teleportation device inside Alice's citadel. As soon as we entered that room, we got teleported outside the citadel. The obelisk…."

Just before I could finish my sentence a window appeared in front of my view. As I pressed the accept button, the slide changed and revealed the texts I needed to read.

[You accepted my offer, Red. I have expected nothing less from you. As a token of my appreciation, I tossed you outside the citadel with the obelisk already inside your inventory so you don't stress yourselves out about it. As for Okami and Ryoshi, those two players will live…..]

As soon as I read the last lines, an explosion emerged from the castle. That detonation destroyed everything, including the surrounding forest.

The blast had congested arcane enough to kill anyone near the area within seconds. Everything happened within a second before me, even after activating my right eye. 

It took the ignition around ten seconds before the fire spread throughout the forest. The explosion did not have any smoke, since the arcane blew it all away. And when the blaze cleared out the scene, Alice's citadel disappeared before our eyes.

[Kaboom] Alice sent her last message before she disappeared from my conversation list.

My system told me that an error appeared when Alice sent me that message. It was as if the game itself went nuts when Alice in Wonderland's castle turned into a million ashes on the ground. 

I fell on my knees and desperately tried contacting Alice for the last time. However, no matter how hard I tried, the message never reached Alice's eyes.

"YOU PROMISED ME THAT YOU'LL SAVE THEM!" I screamed at the burnt citadel.

Alice told me that she would make sure that Okami and Ryoshi would survive that blast. That puppet even told me that a princess never gets back down in her words. 

But those occurrences proved to me that she used me all this time and lied about that part. Alice never intended to help me in the first place. Since she got herself chained behind bars, Alice used someone from the outside to complete her plan.

I did not know how Alice received a burst of arcane magic, since those chains hindered her from using any abilities. But that did not matter right now to me.

"What promise? You didn't tell the team about this promise, Red...What did you promise with Alice?" Match had finally lost her wits and asked me a direct question.

I couldn't switch the topic, especially after hearing such a query coming from Match. "Alice sent me a message and told me to go inside a door, grab the obelisk, and leave Ryoshi and Okami behind. She promised to keep them alive….But after seeing that explosion, I doubt they would come back alive."

"Why didn't you tell us about it?!" Match raised her voice while saying those words. "Okami asked you about anything from Alice! Why did you keep that part as a secret!"

"It's because I don't trust them!" I answered.