NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

"I am Clement, son of Asimov who created this world….my world! Some players also call me Hiro, but I would leave that decision for you to decide. Because I am not a hero. I am the most powerful player and NPC in this game," the man named Clement introduced himself, while brandishing his sword in front of me.

"Most powerful? Please don't make me laugh! You haven't met Alice yet!" I yelled back, while containing my laughter inside of me.

Clement furrowed his eyes and spoke, "You stupid bitch! I could easily beat Alice! My father gave me these cheats! Nothing can stop me!" 

It did not need my brain to understand that Clement was still a child….He was an idiotic spoiled brat who believed had the power to control anyone around him. Those players beside Clement exchanged looks out of fear, hoping that Clement wouldn't do anything to them. These soldiers must have bought Clement's nonsense, considering that they hadn't met Alice and Okami in the flesh.

Some of them might have already fought Okami, since that man always talked about it. Okami mentioned that he killed a thousand players when he needed to run away. And that death count labelled him as a criminal.

I brushed those trivial thoughts aside and focused more on the important things before me. And that included studying Clement's descriptions and weapons. 

Within a few seconds, I secretly opened my system and tried peeking through Clement's identification status. Thanks to my levels and expertise, I could open his account and look through there. And it was all thanks to Okami teaching me the ropes of these Easter eggs.

However, when I finally reached those descriptions, the identification window told me that Clement had locked his information. As stated by Okami, nobody could lock their account as long as we had the correct appraisal skills. Even though privacy was a thing in this game, players could see through their descriptions with the right settings and skills. The game developers valued that private information, but those descriptions belonged to the game.

And now, that information did not show up in Clement's window. I could only assume that the game developers were behind this locked account. And since the game developer, or Warner Asimov, created Clement they had freedom in manipulating its script. Unlike the previous NPCs and the world, Clement became the game developer's puppet. And they could discard or add things inside of him if those game developers wished to do it.

'Tsk. I guess I have no choice but to browse his weapons,' I thought, and switched through Clement's current weapon.

Luckily, my system could view the descriptions of Clement's weapon. Even though I couldn't open his identification status, learning about his weapon would do for now. As long as I could have the upper hand, I could win or escape this fight.

My system analysed that sword and sent me the descriptions. According to my system, a mysterious blacksmith fused his sword using all the elements in Code, including the strongest materials. With those added to Clement's arsenal, I doubted that my penitent's blade could sspar against it. 

"There's no weaknesses….?" I murmured, and clenched my fist.

The system that Code gave me was not strong enough to know those descriptions. And I did not have any skills that belonged to the appraiser class. I was a girl with many names, but an appraisal was not one of them.

That blade would kill me if Clement aimed towards my heart. Actually, that sword would kill me if Clement would aim anywhere on my body!

"It's your turn, Red. Introduce yourself to me….to us! To those players you killed!" Clement added, while playfully rotating his sword.

"I won't introduce these murders. These players also killed NPCs like you. Does that ring a bell?" I retorted, and flashed Clement a smirk.

Clement gritted his teeth and retorted, "You little…..Fine. You made me angry. You don't make me angry! Players, we have a new quest! Kill Red, and my father and I will grant you money."

After saying those words, those soldiers behind him loaded their weapons and resumed firing their bullets in my direction. And since those players knew that those guns did nothing to me earlier, those soldiers tightened up a notch.

Those soldiers ordered their members to aim their lights in my direction, targeting me as their main objective. As soon as the light shone directly at me, those players hid themselves and found better positions for themselves. Some of them continued firing their weapons, while others prepared something for me.

The dark atmosphere clouded the night sky and our surroundings, which added some effect on the battlefield. This environment also made my eyes squinted from my bright surroundings in contract with the unlit one from the other side. 

But after a few seconds, short beams of light emerged in front of me. That radiance my eyes caught was around half the size of my body, which also had a sharp edge at the end. The glow revealed some of the faces beside those lights, but it did not lit up all the blackened surroundings.

Right after preparing their weapons, those soldiers dashed straight at me and pointed those illuminating lights in my direction. All of those players planned on attacking me at once with their numbers, together with those bullets. 

I did not know what to do but to defend myself while avoiding every bullet approaching at my figure.

When the soldiers finally reached my vicinity, I moved out and changed locations. Staying at one place while fighting these players would leave me vulnerable against the soldiers fast approaching me. But if I moved around, I could defend myself from those soldiers with melee weapons. However I needed to keep in mind the barrage of bullets in my direction.

The latter had more chances of winning than the former, considering the situation these soldiers placed me in. What made this worse was the knight cladded in golden armour.

If Clement wanted to join the fray and fight me with his soldiers behind him, I would lose this battle. Even after activating my glowing eyes, I wouldn't stand a chance against that monster.

All I could think about was to survive and escape this place as fast as possible. But how could I when the cards were stacked against me?

Despite these conflicts, I pushed through and defeated three soldiers in front of me. I wanted to kill them, but Match's thoughts resided inside my head. She did not want to kill anyone and spare the lives of NPCs and players.

  And because of those words, I held back against these soldiers and tried my best knocking them out cold. However, after dealing with far too many of them, I didn't know if this would be the right thing.

After all I had done with the players I killed from my past, it made me a hypocrite to spare these soldier's lives. But if I wanted to change, now was the perfect time to redeem myself. If Match heard about this situation, I could still invite her to my party.

As soon as Match's image appeared in my daydream, I rushed away from the building. The pommel of my dagger was enough to render these players immobile, since I aimed for their head. And so far, I killed no one in this fight.

But that part would come to an end when Clement finally appeared in front of me.

That boy wearing a large armour lept from where he had come from and arrived at my fore. The floor below his feet cracked and barely withstood his weight pressing on the ceiling. Despite those occurrences, Clement paid no concern to the building and finally attacked me.

Clement kicked himself and used that speed to charge straight at me with immense speed. Even without adding magic in his body, Clement still launched himself as fast as Okami would when we fought together.

However, Clement's cheat-like powers were not enough to catch me. That boy was still an ignorant prick who called himself the most powerful being in this game when we clearly fought Alice. 

If Clement were to fight Alice or Okami in a one on one situation, he would lose that fight. And if I wanted to be honest, I could win this battle with enough preparation as long as I would only fight against him. These players were making my job more difficult than it should be, since those bullets could hurt me.

And if worse comes to worst, those bullets could kill me if it would land and pierce my head. Fortunately, that thought had never happened…..yet.

After dodging Clement's attack using my lightning speed, I exited the place. Without uttering a word, my body left the setting, but landed against a rock near the base. I was actually near the player's hideout.. But thanks to the trees covering my vicinity, Clement had no clue where I went with my electrical speed.