19th Floor. Hill of the Cross.
"Griselda… I'm begging. Your forgiveness is my only salvation."
Schmidt knelt down upon a dead ground covered in dried, blackened leafs. Before him stood a tall, twisted husk of a long gone tree.
It was dark, and his sight could barely pierce the thick fog that seemed to eternally obscure the presence of life, or lack thereof, in this place.
Still, at this position, he was still able to read the name of his former guild leader and friend engraved upon the stone tablet at the base of the dead tree before him.
He slammed both hands onto the ground, and lowered his entire body in prostration towards the grave.
"I'm sorry! It's my fault! Please! Forgive me, Griselda…! I'm begging you…!"
His teeth clenched as his entire body trembled, not from the biting chill of the eerie graveyard, but in fear and guilt that rotted his heart.
"I had no idea things would turn out like this…!"
'Really…?'
His head snapped up.
A voice… An echo.
He wasn't sure if it was only his imagination.
But then, he heard it again… And again.
Really…? Really? Really… Really? Really?
Echoing from all around him, a female voice so chilling that it froze him on the ground.
Then… A sound came from behind.
"!"
Schmidt snapped his head back, his eyes widened in terror, only to see a small rabbit before.
He looked at it for a moment, and it looked back. Then, it ran away.
A sigh escaped his lips. And only now, in his relief, that he could feel the thumping of his heart against his chest.
He turned back around…
"What did you do…?"
A woman in a dark cloak appeared before him.
Griselda…
"What did you do to me, Schmidt?"
"!!!"
Fear erupted from his chest, but no words, not even a squeak could escape his tightened throat.
The ghost moved. And from beneath her cloak, a gleaming crimson blade, Guilty Thorn, appeared.
"I-It's just…! I-I just…! I-I found a note and a crystal in my belt pouch the day we agreed to sell the ring, with instructions…"
"Whose was it, Schmidt? Whose instructions were they?"
A second voice. Masculine.
Schmidt snapped his head to the side, and a cloaked, masculine figure appeared and floated towards him, stopping right beside Griselda's ghost.
"Grimlock…? Y-You're dead too…?"
"Who…? Who made you do it?"
"I-I don't know…! I swear! The note only said to sneak into Griselda's room, save the Teleportation Crystal's destination, and put it in the guild's shared inventory!"
"And then…?"
"That's all I did! I… I didn't mean to help with the murder…! Believe in me! I beg you!"
Silence. Heavy silence.
In the few moments of silence, Schmidt felt himself suffering for much longer. Fear. Guilt. Everything gripped his heart in a vice grip that barely allowed even his fingers to move except to tremble.
Then… the female's voice changed… A more familiar one. One he heard much more recently.
"We've recorded everything you've said, Schmidt."
"Eh?"
He looked up, and saw the figures with both hoods taken off.
Yolko and Caynz. The phantom avengers who faked their own murder to ferret out the culprit behind Griselda's murder.
"R-Recorded…?"
A blue, crystal octahedron shined with brilliant light floated above Yolko's hands. A small red light blinking at its top; an indication of its current recording status.
"So that's how it is."
Realization washed over his heart. And despite his conviction, Schmidt felt relief more than anything.
"You guys would go that far for Griselda…"
A sigh escaped his lips… And a knowing smile. He could understand where Caynz and Yolko were coming from.
After all… he did feel the same way for Griselda long ago.
"You didn't hate her, did you?"
Caynz asked.
"Of course not! Believe me! I-It's true that I was able to qualify for the Divine Dragons by buying rare weapons with the money I received, but-"
A sharp pain pierced his shoulder, and he felt his body fall uncontrollably to the ground.
His head shifted difficulty to the side. There was a dagger pierced to his shoulder. And on his HUD, he could see his HP bar blinking yellow with an electric mark on the side.
'Paralysis?'
Footsteps. Then, a sleezy, careless voice resounded.
"One down~!"
He looked up, and saw a cloaked man squatting before him. And another one held both Yolko and Caynz at sword point.
Both of their player indicators were orange.
Red-players.
'Don't tell me… They're…'
"He's certainly quite the catch. Isn't he one of the Divine Dragon's leaders?"
Another voice. Gruff. Deep.
His footsteps became louder and louder as he approached them with leisure.
Schmidt looked up, and he could barely see the steel cleaver gleaming under his cloak.
But that was enough for him to know who they were…
'The PK guild… Laughing Coffin.'
"Now… What game should we make them play?"
"Let's go with that one game, boss! A deathmatch where we spare the win-"
Abrupt silence. Then a heavy thud.
The two cloaked men snapped to their left to see the one speaking, laying on the ground. A clean, straight, red line tracing right down his middle.
Then, he shattered.
"!!!"
"Johnny- Arrgh!"
The one in the middle turned to his right this time and saw a rapier pierced through the shoulder of his other comrade.
"!!!"
His body moved through sheer instinct as he kicked the ground and leapt away, raising his cleaver defensively.
From under his cloak, he saw two cloaked figures appearing right in front of him before he knew it.
One stood silently above where Johnny Black was. The digital light particles of his remain dancing around him like fireflies.
While the other, slimmer and more feminine, stood before Xaxa, having withdrawn her rapier from his flesh as he leapt back right beside him.
'An instant…? Johnny died in an instant? He's in the 70s..!'
Beyond level 80… Or perhaps, nearly 90…
No… that's absurd! Even the high ranking clearers were only around level 70s! The highest was only nearly 80!
"You…!"
The man in white and red cloak pointed a sword at him. A beautiful, two-sided long sword that seemed to shine through the thick fog and darkness.
"So that was Johnny Black… He had even less HP than I thought. Well, perhaps it made sense for his build."
His head turned slightly, though his sword kept its point towards the man wielding the cleaver.
"That must be Xaxa, given his weapon of choice."
His gaze returned, and despite hidden beneath the cloak, he could still feel it. The piercing, chilling gaze of a monster that he hadn't felt for so long…
A gaze that could make his heart thump this loudly inside his chest in fear.
Like looking at death right in its eyes.
"That leaves you… The only one who can order these two around. You must be PoH."
Yuuji sneered as PoH and Xaxa both flinched as he identified both of them.
"Laughing Coffin. What a pleasant surprise. I thought I'd have to wait another few weeks before I catch you by the tail."
If it was even possible in this digital world, PoH felt goosebumps rising all over his skin as a chill traveled down his spine. This was the first time he felt this way since coming to this game world.
He never thought he'd feel this way here. Something he only ever felt in the slums and underground of the real world.
Fear enveloped him like a cold, wet blanket. But instead of cowardice, adrenaline spiked his heartrate as his lips curled into a grin.
"I see… So you're the one sniffing around… Sword God."
PoH raised his cleaver, pointing towards the monster he'd only ever heard of in rumors. An existence he doubted until he saw him instantly cleave Johnny Black in two right before him.
Clutching his shoulder, Xaxa flinched at the mere mention of the epithet and retreated closer towards PoH. He knew this monster wasn't something he'd be able to fight against, especially not wounded.
Meanwhile, Asuna stepped closer towards Yuuji as he stood in front of Yolko, Caynz, and the still paralyzed Schmidt on the ground.
"Hah! I thought this would end up as a boring job! Never thought I'd put a face to the ghost!"
He smirked, his voice laced with venomous disdain.
"Likewise. It's nice to finally put a face to the name. Leader of Laughing Coffin."
Yuuji finally met him. The target of one of his missions.
A target to be eliminated.
"You seem to already be very familiar with us… Care to tell us how?"
"Your lackeys are more looselipped than you expect."
"Heh, seems like I need to take care of the leaks we're experiencing."
PoH responded, unbothered by the revelation. He knew this would happen, and he wasn't an unknown man, by any means.
He was already well known as a Red-Player.
"You're talking like you'll live for long."
"Don't play dumb. You know I will."
A chilling wind blew through them, billowing PoH and Xaxa's cloaks and revealing the glimer of a blue crystal in their hands.
Yuuji wasn't surprised.
PoH seemed to possess vast experience in true combat. Just from his reaction to their ambush, PoH had displayed capabilities and instincts that could only be honed through life and death combat situations.
Still, his sword never wavered and pointed straight at PoH.
"Well, either way, it's nice to finally meet you, Sword God. And I'm sure… We'll meet again soon."
The sound of glass shatter pierced through the eerie silence of the grave.
Then, in a flash of light, the two Laughing Coffin members disappeared in particles of light.
"... That's a shame."
A sigh escaped his lips as Yuuji sheathed his sword back.
It was a result he had expected. After all, he didn't intend on killing PoH right now.
He had achieved both of his true goals on this occasion.
First, to kill an executive of Laughing Coffin and any other of its members who'd show up in here.
And second, to let Ai plant a location tracker on PoH.
'Master! It's done! I've put a tracker on him as you've asked!'
'Mm. Thank you, Ai.'
Killing PoH now would complete his mission, but it would make his other mission—Eliminating members of the Red-Player guild, Laughing Coffin—more difficult.
Killing off the head now would make the rest of its body run around like headless chickens.
They would run immediately into the four winds, and hide themselves in every nook and cranny of any floors they could get themselves into.
They would conceal themselves as much as they could from the one who killed their leader, remain inactive, and perhaps even return to being a Green-Player.
Finding them then would become far too time consuming and difficult.
So instead, Yuuji had PoH tracked with Ai's help.
He wouldn't be able to know PoH's exact location, but he'll now be able to track him just like one would a guild member or a friend.
PoH will voluntarily inform him of his whereabouts at all times and the locations of his hideouts.
And when the time was right, he would strike and eliminate all of them in one fell swoop.
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AN: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter~! Please comment your thoughts~! I would love to hear what you think about it~!!!!
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