NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

Our defending position saved us some time and effort as we entered the castle's borders. However, those spells never ceased to rain above our heads. It continued firing from elsewhere, hoping that it could eventually hit us.

Fortunately, Match and I protected each other's back as we trod forward towards the castle. Despite this positive remark, I still wished that Ryoshi would catch himself on fire after receiving a blow from these barrages of spells.

"We're still outside the citadel! Don't get comfortable about it! We still need to push through inside before celebrating, okay?!" Okami shouted, while continuing our charge. "Don't get lax, or we'll all die!"

Those words struck us lightning from the stars, with the sparkling elemental spells from afar. That scenery was our reminder that we needed to stay focused in this battle.

This fight was just the beginning of our skirmish, since we had yet to meet the person behind the curtains. So giving up was not a part of our option.

After a few seconds, the set of spells became fewer as we approached the castle's gates. Every step we took came with a pool of sweat dripping from our faces. But thanks to Okami's guidance, we reached our destination without losing a member of our team.

And when we're standing at the citadel's front, the spells finally tone down. All of us stared at the sky, waiting for something to happen. But the spells never broke out, which made us heave a sigh.

"Is it over? Just like that?" Okami commented, while scratching his head. "Well, that seems normal to me."

"WHAT?!" I shouted. "Why does this feel normal to you?! Aren't you concerned the spells stopped firing at us?"

"I believe those spells are not coming for us…." Ryoshi butted in, while pointing his forefingers at our fore. "Since they're the ones, we need to face next."

It was just like any other labyrinths inside this game or any popular place known to players. Before entering inside that sacred area, the guest needed to showcase their skills against guards placed on the door's front.

And that was what happened at the scene.

Our team got face to face against two towering puppets that nearly reached the gate's height. Each of these puppets had an outstanding amount of arcane revolving inside of them, making it difficult for us to fight it at once. The puppet's mana reached around five times Match currently had right now, which would definitely pose a threat against us.

These two puppets had swords clipped in their hands made of peculiar stones. These puppets might have imbued these blades with arcane that amplified their power. Those blades were incomparable to the blacksmiths created inside Mainland. Since I lived there for my entire life, studying the adventurer's weapons became a pastime for me. I did not know why, but that information became useful right now.

Fortunately for us, the two puppets did not move for now. They just glared at us with those bulging eyes locked in their sockets. It was as if those marionettes thought of us as unwanted guests inside this castle.

"Do you have a plan, Okami? You've fought them once, right? How should we fight them? Do these puppets have any weaknesses at all?" I asked.

I did not want to beat around the bush and clash against these puppets head-on. We did not even know the spells that these puppets could cast, since they were new enemies in our eyes. And if we did that, we would just invite death to our front door, with our legs tied against each other.

Okami shook his head and replied, "No... I don't think so. It's my first time facing these two puppets. When I paid a visit, these giants weren't here before. Only Alice and her mini were fighting against me. They're all weak against my main account... But I doubt that would happen in this fight."

After Okami's confession, everyone quivered, thinking we would fail this fight. All of us froze, even the giants at the scene. It was as if our enemies gave us the free time to run away as far from this place.

But we were tired of running from a fight, considering the events that happened before. Since we came here exhaustedly running from the bombarding spells, we wanted to force ourselves inside the castle.

"We need to fight them," I suggested, while preparing my stance. "If we don't enter that citadel, I don't know when we would."

"Red's right!" Match seconded.

Ryoshi and Okami exchanged looks, thinking if we should proceed. But I wouldn't wait for them even though we would have conflicting answers. However, it would be better if we were on the same page.

"You know, maybe you're right? Maybe the girls onto something," Okami said, while facing the two golems. "We defeated the pirates, coursed the raging ocean, and defeated the Kraken. How bad could this fight be?"

"OKAMI!" Ryoshi shouted."

"What?"

"Those puppets have high tier arcane resonating inside of them. They even have some stones that we haven't even heard of. Are you saying that we could win against them? We should try barging inside that gate without even defeating the two puppets."

Even though I hated Ryoshi's guts, the man had a point. If we cannot defeat these golems, we could always enter the gates and lock the marionettes from the outside.

"Since these puppets cannot move away from their post, they cannot reach the citadel's insides," Okami exclaimed, while snapping his fingers. "Okay. I like that plan. It's quick and efficient."

Before Okami could lay out his instructions, I raised my hand and asked, "How did you know these puppets aren't going to move away from their place? And you mentioned we need to enter that door without killing these puppets. How can we do that when those two…. giants over there are guarding the gates!?"

Okami grabbed me to his side and explained, "Do you see those magic circles right there?"

Getting dragged by someone I did not know made me want to punch Okami in the face. However, since he needed to explain the concepts behind those analyses, I listened to every word he had to say.

I followed Okami's hands and stared at the site for twenty seconds. However, despite squinting my eyes, there was nothing there but the bulky feet of those giants.

"No.." I answered, while shaking my head. "But, go on….. I'm listening."

Okami pointed at that same area and continued, "If you can zoom in your eyes, you'll notice something spiralling. Right there! If you concentrate long enough, you'd notice something wrong. There are two things that you need to know, actually. First are the strings made from the puppets. The second part is the magic circles surrounding their feet. Those strings attached themselves to the magic circle, which gives them the autonomy to move. Since those strings come from those circles and not from Alice, those giants could only move around fifty feet around. They cannot exceed from that space, even if they tried."

After listening to Okami's explanation, I squinted my eyes and observed the site once more. After a few moments, those strings and magic circles he mentioned appeared briefly in my sight. I could not believe my eyes that two magic circles surrounded the giant's feet, with invisible strings coming off from their back. It was as if someone was controlling them from afar.

But according to Okami, these giants could only listen to specific orders written on their magic circles. Alice could only create giants around magic circles. And since those puppets did not have fully developed minds, they cannot act on their own.

"I got it. So what do we have to do?"

Okami and Ryoshi requested for everyone to gather in a circle to think of a plan. Since these were the players of this game, they had more knowledge about Alice and Code itself. I, who was just an assassin and a villager, couldn't help but listen to the scheme. Match also had her eye set at the plan, with her stave burning bright red. It just meant that Match could not contain her excitement. So Match lashed it out on her staff, telling the world how she felt.

Since the distance between the giants and the gate was around eighty feet, we could outrun them. Our team would form various distraction units and keep those giants busy. As soon as we could glue them on the ground, the rest would enter the gate, followed by the second batch.

Even though we wasted a few minutes talking about our plan, the giants never budged a muscle. It was like what Okami had mentioned before. These puppets could not attack us, since we stood around sixty feet. Those giants did not think of us as threats, considering that we were still standing in a safer place. But once we entered that place, those puppets would activate themselves and hunt us down.

We also needed to learn the puppet's abilities before engaging in that spot. But with few options, we needed to make something happen.