A/N: Someone has been Player Killed and...Oh no! It's from Laughing Coffin! That's just terrible, horrible! It's...Bah! I can't even make a mash-up with those two words! They rhyme too much!


JANUARY 22ND, 2023. FLOOR 7, VILLAGE OUTSKIRTS.

Laughing Coffin.

I'm familiar with that guild. It's a group of criminals who enjoy PVP, Player Vs. Player. Player Killing. Only in this death game, PVP is a critical crime. Everyone in this world either hates or are afraid of the guild, Laughing Coffin. The worst about of it was that I was one of its members.

[Flashback - November 17th, 2022]

I was walking down the road on the third floor, cursing under my breath at that Fuuinkazan guild. It's morning and I have just woken up from sleep. I couldn't enter a town due to being marked as a murder, even though I didn't actually kill a player, just hit him, and I couldn't sleep unprotected due to monsters and other murders. So I was stuck sleeping under the eyes of the Kuuinkazan guild.

I am still an orange player right now, so I still can't return to town.

"Those despicable animals! Who in the hell do they think they are!" I kick some dirt with my feet as I walk.

"Hey!" I turn to see a hooded player.

I can't make out the player's face. The hooded cape covers his head, but his face is mostly covered by a skull mask. The mask has an open mouth so it still reveals his mouth.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I'm Zaza of the guild, Laughing Coffin." Zaza answers. Laughing Coffin. Hearing that name has me suspicious. "You're the player looking for a guild? Try ours."

I look at him cautiously and curious. "Are your people full of dogs trying to hit on women like me?"

"Not really. Trust me, we're a very...special guild." Zaza says.

He smirks, the way he smirks feels a little off. Almost devious. I cross my arms. "Fine. I'll give it a shot. Can't be any worse than that Fuuinkazan guild. Just out of curiosity, don't you care I'm an orange player?"

"No, no. Don't worry. You'll fit right in." Zaza opens his menu. "However, you're going have to wear this." A dark cape, like the one he's wearing, appears in his hands and he tosses it to me. I don't question it, so I put it on.

Later that day, Zaza escorts me to the second-floor dungeon, Hopplings Burrow. I was still curious about the Laughing Coffin guild. If only I learned what it is they do before I get involved in their little hunt.

Zaza and I arrived at the meeting place, which is a cave right above one of the tunnels. PoH and three other Laughing Coffin members await us. What surprises me is that they're all Swordsman and Assassins.

"You took your timing, Zaza," PoH says.

"Sorry boss, I was busy helping out our newest member." Zaza moves aside revealing me to the other members.

Everyone but PoH are surprised to see me. I can't tell if they're just surprised or they're being like the Fuuinkazan guild. Hard to tell when I can barely see their expressions.

"You got a new player without my approval?" PoH asks.

"You the leader of this guild?" I ask.

"No, I'm really vice guild master. The real leader is always in hiding at our HQ. But yeah, you could say I'm like a leader." PoH says.

One of the other members, Johnny Black, appears. "Ah! The trap is all set up, boss!" This dude sounds pretty crazy.

"Excellent. Our targets should be arriving soon." PoH says.

"What exactly are we hunting?" I ask.

The Laughing Coffin members take their positions. "You'll see," PoH says.

I'm cautious about all of this. I move myself to the edge, I look down to see nothing but a single diamond crystal floating on the ground. I'm guessing that's the trap. We wait for a while, then I notice a group of players, 5 of them, mostly children of age for 10-12.

Their eyes light up at the sight of the diamond. "We've hit the jackpot!"

They rush up to the diamond trap. "Should we warn them it's our creature trap?"

"No. They're the perfect bait." Zaza says.

I'm surprised to hear that. But by then, I realized something. But it was too late. They touched the diamond, which causes the whole room to turn red and some high-pitched screeching sound goes off. The players below react badly to it, covering their ears and falling to their knees.

"Now!" PoH orders and all but me jump down below, ambushing the players.

"It's an ambush! Quick! Teleport out!" The Swordsman player says.

The players tried to use their Teleport Crystals, but nothing's happening. That trap the Laughing Coffin players used a type of item that creates some field that prevents crystal usage. Not only that, but the Cleric and Wavemasters tried to cast spells but failed. They're silenced. It's an Anti-Crystal and Spell trap.

I just sit above as I watch the innocent players down before being attacked. This is completely horrible. The Swordsman, who is a 16-year-old boy, was killed. Two Laughing Coffin members have a little girl and a boy cornered. Just when they're about to strike, that's when I've seen enough. I jumped right in and blocked the attack with my sword.

The Laughing Coffin members were shocked to see me turn against them. Of course, I was never apart of them, to begin with. I start striking back at the Laughing Coffin members. I start with the crazy white-haired member, who laughs insanely in a high-pitched voice. I end up killing this guy by cutting his head off when he had 23% HP left.

The rest of the fight was a bloody hell, but I prevailed in defeating the Laughing Coffin guild. I killed two of their members and the rest runs away. The players I saved didn't thank me. In fact, they were afraid of me. I couldn't tell if it's cause they think I'm a Laughing Coffin member cause of the cape, or that I'm a red player for murdering other players.

Either way, I was a monster.

[Flashback ends]

"Lightning!" Kirito calling and shaking my shoulder snaps me back into reality. "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I shake my head then put my hand over the forehead. "I-I'm fine. Just a little shocked."

"Okay then." Kirito and I look back at the large mark on the cliff. "So the murder guild are on the strike."

"Seems like they're trying to scare us...threaten us maybe." I look at Kirito. "We've got to find the Laughing Coffin member behind this before more players become murdered." I kneel down and pick up the sword that impaled the man. "First thing we should do is identify this weapon. Might leave us a clue."

"Well, I happen to know an Appraisal merchant who can help us with that," Kirito says.


FLOOR 6, TAVERN AERIE

Kirito and I head for the Black Market near the sixth-floor city. I wonder what this could be about, then he approaches a small building. He opens the door and walks right in. Inside is a large, bald man. I haven't seen large men like him since the invasion of the Abduction Agency back in the real world.

"I see business is as ruthless as ever, Agil," Kirito says.

Kirito approaches Agil. "Buy cheap, sell cheap. That's my motto."

Kirito and Agil fist bumps each other. "I'm not sure about one of them."

"Shut up," Agil says with a laugh. I walk right in. Agil is surprised to see me. What he does next kind of confuses me. He grabs Kirito in a headlock and pulls him into the counter. "What's going on Kirito? I thought you were a solo player! What are you doing here with a girl!"

I feel awkward seeing this.

Once we're settled in, we tell Agil the situation that happened outside of town. "A player was killed by Laughing Coffin?"

"That's right. The player was hanged from the neck by a noose with a sword impaled through him." Kirito takes out the sword, handing it to Agil. "This is the sword."

"We thought the sword could have left us a clue, and that's why we're here," I say.

Agil takes the sword. He pushes the search button on the weapon. Kirito and I wait for Agil's response. "It's a player-made weapon."

Kirito and I are surprised to hear that. "By who?" I ask.

"Grimlock. Never heard of him, but I know he's not a first-rated blacksmith, that's for certain." Agil says.

Grimlock...I feel like I've heard that name before. I know for certain that it isn't in the Laughing Coffin guild. Maybe I heard it somewhere. I think of all the names of the Laughing Coffin members I've heard. PoH. Xaxa. Black Johnny. Everyone else I met on that day are blanks.

Kirito and I leave the black market. "Grimlock. You think that's the one who made the kill?" Kirito asks.

"Perhaps. I say we find Grimlock and stop him." I say.

"Laughing Coffin members are red players. They'll most likely be on the field. We should head back to the floor 9 fields to see if we can attract a Laughing Coffin member." That's actually a good idea. "We'll need someone to lure a member to attack. Someone defenseless."

I think for a moment. I have an idea for who can help us out here, only I'm gonna hate myself for bringing him involved into something dangerous. "I know someone who can help us."


FLOOR 9, THE GREAT WALL.

Hope starts walking around the field next to the large wall. Our plan is to use Hope as bait to lure the Laughing Coffin members out. He is very uncertain about doing this, but I told him that we'll be watching him closely. After hearing that, he accepts the task.

Kirito and I are close by, keeping an eye on Hope. We're hiding inside a tree, which is a made-up tree granted by Kirito's illusion spells. Hope is just wandering around, making his own kills with the mobs in this area. His battles are long and boring. I guess that's the price of playing a Cleric. I can only imagine how he feels, I even remember him say he was gonna transfer into a Wavemaster if he wasn't stuck in this death game.

Perhaps I could party with him more often.

"This plan have better work," I whisper to Kirito.

"It will don't worry. Just keep an eye out." Kirito says.

"If this cost me Espeon, I swear, I'll take away your little sister," I say with a threat. Doesn't really sound much of a threat when it's only a whisper.

"She's not really my sister. Now be quiet!" Kirito says.

Kirito and I continue watching Hope in silence. This goes on for another thirty minutes and still no sign of Laughing Coffin members. Hope even starts to grow bored. Kirito and I are starting to think that this plan isn't going to work. Hope starts to walk away, only the moment he does, a prediction line appears on Hope, and a bullet hits him knocking him down.

"Did you see that?" Kirito asks. I answer with a nod.

Hope lays on the ground, paralyzed by a stun bullet.

Two Laughing Coffin members come out of hiding. A hooded Shadow Sniper and a member with a hat and glasses. "Nice shot Sterben." Sterben holds his gun up. The two Laughing Coffin members approach Hope.

"Now?" I ask, starting to get worried.

"Not yet. Wait here." Kirito turns invisible. I wonder what he's up to.

"Well, you don't see this every day. A Cleric out on his own. He must be pretty strong." Sterben says. Strangely, he sounds very familiar. I wonder why. "What should we do with him, Grimlock?"

My eyes are wide open. So this is Grimlock. "I say we take everything he has and have him hung to death!"

Sterben nods. He kneels down but suddenly stops. A Paralysis appears next to his health bar, then he collapses to the ground. Grimlock is surprised to see this. "What the...what is?"

Kirito turns visible, right behind where Sterben was. "Hello, Grimlock."

Grimlock looks surprised. I rush right in, zoomed-in is more like it, until I'm right behind him with my blade over his shoulder, by his neck.

Grimlock turns and looks at me afraid. "So you're the one behind the murder."

"You? ...You're that traitor from the Hopplings Burrow dungeon," Grimlock says.

That's right. He was one of the members from that party. Kirito and Hope look speechless. "Traitor?"

"You were with Laughing Coffin?" Kirito asks.

"I was, but only for a few minutes. When I found out they are a murder guild, I turned against them." I explained.

"The boss was not happy about your treachery! Our real leader was steamed even! He did seem a bit curious hearing the character name 'Lightning'." Grimlock says.

Curious to hear my name? I wonder who's the real leader of Laughing Coffin? Someone, I know? "No matter. You're going to the prison dungeon: Black Iron Castle." Kirito says.

Grimlock looks over my shoulder at Kirito, smirking. He's up to something. "Oh, I don't think so." He pulls a knife out of his sleeve, then hurls it at Kirito. Kirito didn't suffer much damage, but he does receive paralysis stats. I'm surprised to see this as Kirito collapses.

"Paralysis? But you're not even an Assassin or a Shadow Sniper." I say.

"No! But the Alchemist in our guild discovered a special chemical that creates paralysis liquid. Just a single drop into the players' mental system and they'll be paralyzed." Grimlock takes out a red crystal, similar to the teleport crystal. Only once he uses it on Sterben, his paralysis was removed. Instantly, Sterben gets on his feet then aims his gun at me.

I'm caught by surprise from all this. "You are hopelessly outnumbered," Sterben says, this time his voice is a little deeper. It's almost like he's trying to hide his identity. "Surrender your money and items and we'll let you live long enough to watch your friends perish."

"Like I'll let that happen," I say.

In a flash, I cut his gun in half. My weapon charges and I deliver multiple strikes on Sterben. His HP goes down like crazy until my final strike knocks him back, and his health drops to 30%. Sterben looks up at me, he quickly gets on his feet then runs.

Grimlock looks at me, afraid. "You'll never catch me!" Grimlock makes a run for it as well.

I draw my sword back, it charges, then do a Sonic Leap attack. I rush past him, giving him a strike that cuts his right leg off. Grimlock screams from that cut as he falls. "It's over, Grimlock," I tell him.

The paralysis wore off from Hope, when he's on his feet, he was able to cure Kirito of his paralysis. We also tied up Grimlock. That's one Laughing Coffin member imprisoned.

"I'll take him to the prison dungeon," Kirito says, taking Grimlock. Since his leg didn't grow back, Kirito ends up carrying him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Thanks for helping us out, Hope," I say.

Hope looks up at me like he couldn't even believe me. "You were a member of the murder guild?"

Here we go. "Look! I didn't know they were red players. It's not my fault."

"I know, I'm just...shocked. That's all." Hope says.

I smile a little, let out a small chuckle, then wrap my arm around Hope. "Don't worry about it, kiddo. Let's just head back into town."

"O-okay then." Hope and I return to town. Still, I wonder about that Sterben Shadow Sniper. I feel like I've met him somewhere. It doesn't matter anymore, he's a red player, a member of Laughing Coffin.

One day, I'll find him and I'll make him and the rest of the guild pay for their unforgivable crimes.