Red Rose and Mer

Wolf finally made his move. He sprinted from side to side and hit La Finta using the pommel of his blade. That would deal no damage to the crowned elf, but enough to make her unconscious. That was what he had expected.

I raced behind La Finta and struck her using my penitent's blade. I made sure that I hit her heart and cut off La Finta's arteries. Although this world was a game, the organs worked the same.

The tip of my blade pierced through her skin like scissors cutting through paper. I did not have to exert a strenuous effort as I pushed my blade deeper into La Finta's body.

A swishing sound echoed through our ears as the sharp edge of my dagger reached the other side of the elf's body. La Finta had not died yet, so I had to finish the job.

"You're not aiming for me." Wolf realised what had happened in front of him.

The wet scarlet blood splattered on his hands. The blood came not from him, but from the elf at his fore.

La Finta coughed out the blood because of the stab. With her remaining ounce of strength left in her body, she opened her mouth.

"You... were the one who killed King Arthur?"

An apologetic smile emerged from my face. It was not a beam, but my lips curved in embarrassment. But I had to do it. I needed to kill La Finta and get the obelisk.

If the Grandmother was dead, I can take the emerald resin from her and accomplish my goal. I will get my revenge on the game developers who made this world.

"I'm sorry."

I snatched the pocket-sized gemstone tangled in La Finta's neck and jolted away. Her weakened body fell on Wolf. The long-eared elf wanted to do something, but her wounds opened whenever she jerked.

"La Finta!" Wolf screamed and caught her descending body in his arms.

He tried tending to the wounds by using a red flask hidden in his coat. Wolf set his priorities to the elf dying in his hands. I used that moment to escape and fled back to the gates.

I gripped the emerald tighter in my hands and observed its design. It had the size of a fanned-shaped leaf, more considerable than my palm. The gemstone had a viridescent glow, bright enough to act as a portable lantern in the dark.

"You!" Wolf growled in my direction. "Why are you doing this! You don't have to kill your fellow NPCs!"

I shook my head in response. "I have to do it."

After our exchange, I rushed towards the gate and used the shadow as my pavement. [Shadow walk] allowed me to extend the duration of my ability. It became burdensome for anyone to see me, especially when I schemed to escape during the night.

The rangers entered the scene, but they were too late. Among the marching wardens, a petite young-looking elf spotted La Finta and Wolf at the centre of the throne. The group screamed and said something about the situation, with Wolf explaining to himself what happened.

My plan was perfect. The elves would frame the Grandmother's death to Wolf, a player who had breached the Elven Kingdom. There was also a war happening at the kingdom's ingress.

The elves would invalidate Wolf's claim and raise their guard against him, treating him as their enemy. I was sure of it. Nobody would believe an intruder, let alone a player invading their fort. Those wardens would never suspect a thing about me and shift their focus to Wolf.

I rushed towards the castle's sides, hoping to return to the stables. Before advancing, I tried placing the emerald gemstone inside my inventory [astral space]. But my system refused to take the valuable item. It told me I needed to make a vessel for the stone if I yearned to store it inside my bag.

[The obelisk you are holding is a sacred treasure in Code, Master Rose.] The automated voice informed me.

I had no choice but to place it inside my pocket, hoping that it would not fall off when I engage in battle. There was no time for me to lose, so I proceeded to the hall and retraced my steps back to the barn.

However, the scene in front of me was not part of my plan.

"Overturn the citadel and find the dungeon where the elves imprisoned our friends!" A blaring war cry came out from a warrior's lips. "Leave no NPC alive!"

He had a bulky body filled with thick muscles and skin. The warrior had a two-handed weapon gripped by both of his hands. With one swing of his blade, the rangers fighting against him got split in half.

He was a player, a one-man army. These might be Wolf's friends and party?

But it confused me why Wolf would enter the throne alone when there was a clash at the front lines?

'Maybe he was doing his thing alone?' I thought, but I brushed the idea away.

Behind the plump man were his couple of friends defending his rear. Those were the players who had entered the kingdom and bypassed the rangers. Some of them were still battling against the front.

There must be two forces assaulting the ingress.

I inspected his background and found out his name was Mer, leader of the Western Branch Adventurer's Guild. I lived in the Kingdom of Freiy, so I knew nothing about this guy from before. All I perceived were players entering and out from Code and paid little attention to these details.

The adventurer's guild protected the Mainland and the neighbouring empires from monsters, terrorists, player-killers, and even burglars. They upheld their duty as officers that projected peace and justice in Code.

But now that the situation had escalated beyond their grasp. The world became a death game, where these players could die in the other world if their character died here in Code. It was arduous for me to understand everything, but that was what the system told me.

Mer glared in my direction, thinking that I was an NPC and not a player. I forgot to change my title into a player, and I needed to pay the price for my blunder. It was too late for me to change my title now.

I had to slip away before the guards could notice the obelisk in my hands.

"Sir, we found a villager wearing a red cloak inside the castle. Should we kill her?" A monitor appeared from Mer's skin. I could see their conversation, given that I was a player like them.

"Kill all NPC. That's an order."

After Mer's commands, multiple arrows came crashing towards me. My right eye radiated once again, helping me to elude the attack coming from afar. It was the work of my system that partially controlled my body during combat.

I slid backwards and avoided the pointed tips of the arrows. Mer, who was still watching in the distance, heaved an exhale.

"Despite being a villager, you dodged those bolts from the players? And they're level twenty, dammit." Mer grunted and trundled forward.

"I'm not one of them," I stated. "There is no reason fighting me, a lost villager, not an elf."

The warrior shook his head and uttered, "I don't care. You killed my friends. That's how it is."

Without a hint of doubt, the warrior raced towards me and leapt towards the air. Mer raised his weapon, attempting to land a hit on me. I rolled sidewards and dodged the initial impact of his crash. However, the pulse that came afterwards hit me like a carriage, forcing me to hover towards the sides.

I was fortunate enough to hit a wall from a nearby treehouse. The panel decreased the damage I had accumulated, but the act still graced my body. Dozens of wounds appeared on my limbs as I used my hands to cushion my fall. The churning pain pulsated throughout my body, corrupting my focus on the warrior before me.

My feet desperately crawled at the sides, hoping to create a distance between the warrior and me. However, it was not too long that the other players showed up and used their arcane against me.

I forced myself to stand up and used the barks to my advantage. There were five players in front of me, all level 15-30. I was at a disadvantage.

The mage cast and directed her spell in my direction. A stream of raging water materialised from her palms, hoping to wash me further away from the creeping vines. One magic caster conjured a lightning strike, attempting to amplify the spell projected by his friend.

I lurched sideways and used my momentum to jump onto a branch. The bough had a height of 100 centimetres, enough to avoid the blast.

However, my speed was not fast enough to outmanoeuvre the lightning strike. I eventually got hit by the spark, crisping both the tree and the branch. My motionless body descended and slammed into the ground. With a clamorous thump, the plummet stunned me for half a minute.