"Be quiet." She warned again, this time more intentionally—the tone of someone who knew exactly what happened when things got loud.
For a moment, we just remained in that still position, her hand covering my mouth, her index finger on her lips, indicating a shush while whatever zombie was behind the door still kept banging on it.
It took a few minutes before the banging stopped. But the relieving part of it was that it stopped. Then she pulled away from me and moved up the stairway.
"They're gone." She said, taking a seat on one of the staircases. "You're safe now."
Maybe she looked like she was expecting it, but I never said thank you to her. Originally, I wasn't the kind of guy to show gratitude. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't ego or belief-driven, it was just a bad habit I couldn't get rid of at this point.
Moreover, the words 'thank you' weren't exactly in line with my thought process at that moment. Something deeper and less appreciative was moving in there. Confusion. Questions. And the sudden recognisable face of this redhead.
"Are you an NPC?" I asked, because apparently, the question 'do I know you' would've sounded more absurd.
"That's the new title for extras, I guess." She sighed, placing an arm over her wounded shoulder. Then she studied me for a second. "I'm guessing you also are—"
"I'm the main player."
She raised an eyebrow at me. The same way you'd look at someone who'd just said the craziest thing ever. Unbelievably.
"What?"
"You don't want to be that guy." She said, her tone foreboding. "He's the whole reason why we're both in here."
I didn't know what she was talking about, but I just nodded anyway, like I actually understood. But my brain couldn't put the pieces together still. I was about to give up and ask her what she meant when she came up with something else.
"How many minutes are left on your timer?" She asked, pulling out a bandage roll from somewhere in her clothes.
How does she know I have a timer?
"About fifty minutes," I said, glancing at the system screen for a quick confirmation. The numbers matched. "By the way, how long have you been in here?"
I watched her loosen her shirt buttons, about to pull it off. And then she looked up at me, issued a pair of acknowledging eyes.
"Turn around."
"Uh, sure." I turned around in agreement, but I never agreed not to turn back and glance at her once in a while.
I guess that's what happens when you think you aren't being influenced by the perverts in your school.
"I've been in here for so long, so I pretty much lost count." She said as she wrapped the bandage around her shoulders, and down her arm. "Hopefully, this time, I'll complete this node."
I turned to her. By now, she was done wrapping her wounds up. "By chance, did you get revived every time you failed the node?" I thought about asking, because she'd mentioned getting it right this time.
What Amelia had told me after all was that a revival wasn't possible in this tournament. That once dead, there was no extra life, and that the death remained permanent even in reality. How then was she talking about extra chances?
"I guess?" She replied, unsure of her answer too. "Every time that stupid zombie boss killed me, I just kept being brought back to this stairway."
Like a reversal, apparently. Maybe the rules didn't count for NPC characters after all. After all, developers had a method of reserving the highest stakes for the main players. And dying in reality was just one of those stakes.
But, it was still quite weird. The feeling that I'd seen her somewhere before still didn't leave my brain. The picture before me right then— a red-haired girl on blood soaked uniform— the image struck a resemblance in my head, something I couldn't quite decode.
"What's your name?"
"Paula." That name. Even something about it sounded familiar, something that held tales in the line of Silvic's high dark history. The problem was that, there were too many dark histories to pick from. "You?"
I raised an eyebrow, in a split-second effort for mental purchase. "I'm Ren."
"Well Ren, here's the deal." She stood, determination set in her eyes. "We can complete this node together by defeating the zombie boss. And after that, we'd think of how we survive in the other nodes."
If I remember, Amelia mentioned that the NPCs were dangerous and that they would try to kill me. Even if this girl— Paula— had a huge pattern of recognition I couldn't quite decipher, I still couldn't bring myself to just trust her.
Moreover, from what I'd understood so far, this whole system setup was just an illusion. If she were here, then she was probably a replication of some real-life character, someone who was here to trick and ambush me.
Nice try, system.
I now had the option of being three steps ahead of her. To observe her movements and kill her after the boss was dead. After all, I didn't know how tough the zombie boss was. If it kept her on repetitive mode for so long, then it would probably need two or more people to defeat it.
I just needed to play along. At least until I completed this node, and fully had the hang of how things worked in this tournament— I needed guidance.
"How do you plan to beat it?" I asked, activating precaution mode.
"I dunno. I guess we'd just hit until it becomes weak."
"And how did that work out the last few times?" I lowered my eyes at her. "If we're gonna beat this thing, we're gonna do it on my terms. Unlike you, I'm not ready to risk my life just to test my attack moves."
She folded her arms, and a thin smile made its way up her lips. "And how do you plan to beat it, genius?"
"Well..." I thought for a while with my fingers on my chin. And eventually, I came down to the first and only answer in my head. I looked up at her. "We'd use you as bait."
"What?"
"Hear me out, okay?" I said in an attempt to calm her storm before it struck. "All this time, you've been going head-to-head with a monster who'd do anything to feed. And that's the problem. Instead of going for its weakness, you're treating the monster like a noble combat master. Playing a fair game with a zombie boss."
NPCs and their traditional methods. I had had enough of it at this point.
"So, you're saying you're going to try to feed me to the monster— just so you can attack it?"
"I'm saying, that surprise attacks deal more damage than an attack that was readily prepared for. It's simple. We just need to make the zombie guy think his pals brought him lunch. And trust me, most people feel comfort while having lunch. I don't see how that'll be different in the case of monster."
Paula seemed to put this into consideration. She did that long blank stare that decided how this was going to go eventually. Not that she had an option anyway. It was a pretty smart idea. At least, smarter than her battle rush strategy.
"Alright, fine." She said. "But I'm landing the attack. You're the bait."
"Wait, what?" I wanted to argue, but she'd already started moving. "Wait, you don't understand!"
"I can't trust your strength, dude. You're new to this. You probably have no idea how strong that thing up there is."
"Up there?" I glanced up the stairway. "The boss has been up there all these while?"
Now that gave me some real chills. The rooftop was about two to three floors away from us, and if the boss was up there, it only meant that this place wasn't a safe space after all.
Paula didn't seem concerned about that. She was heading up the stairs, a sword in her hand. A common type of sword, I guessed. It was about the same length as mine, edges glowing with that same density that already explained everything about the weapon— which was nothing much.
"Wait!" I called after. "We don't even have a detailed plan yet."
Apparently, she wasn't a fan of strategy. The look on her face as she ignored me and continued moving— was something completely ambitious. An angry determination. Obviously, she had unfinished business with the monster.
I didn't bother stopping her anymore. I knew she wasn't going to. I just followed behind her, defensively gripping my sword— at least the way I'd seen characters do in movies.
When we got to the top, she approached the escape hatch with stealth, twisting its lock open as quietly as she could. The moment the door opened, cold air slammed against my teeth. The kind of cold that reminded you of being stuck on an ice desert during winter.
Except that, nothing outside looked like winter. Dull evening sun. Vibrant green trees in the distance. And on the rooftop— a seven-foot-tall, giant monster that looked like it was generating something from its scaly body.
"The...hell...is that?"
Paula didn't hesitate. She pushed me out while I was still busy trying to process— snatching my word from me. And before I could turn back and argue, she waved her fingers at me and slammed the door shut.
"Hey—!"