"Clang—clang—clang—clang—"
The sound of metal striking metal continued to ring out in the warehouse, refusing to fade even after a long time.
But Sinon's mind had already short-circuited, and she could no longer bring herself to care about it.
"Not... a rumor...?"
"That person is... 'Death Gun'...?"
"True... death...?"
Those words one after another made the anger in Sinon's heart vanish, replaced by a chill.
A bone-deep chill.
Luo Zhen, however, paid no attention to Sinon's reaction and continued explaining in an indifferent tone.
"Since you already know that I and that broken-down cloak wearer are both SAO survivors, and that we fought each other before, what do you think was the reason we fought?"
Sinon had thought about this before, but in games, there were simply too many conflicts that could arise for all sorts of reasons and eventually turn into PKs. SAO had also been a genuine death game, where a single coin, a bit of experience, an item, or a weapon could determine whether someone survived. On top of that, it had been a lawless zone, so there had been even more reasons for players to kill one another. Sinon had therefore never seriously considered the question.
But now, Luo Zhen had revealed the answer himself.
"There was a guild in SAO that took pleasure in killing players."
Luo Zhen spoke of something horrifying in a detached tone.
"Although there were plenty of orange-name players in SAO who chose to commit crimes for various reasons—some for wealth, some for revenge, some through unfortunate misunderstandings, and some because of personal grudges—there were also many Orange-Name Guilds. But that guild was different. It didn't act for wealth, nor for grudges. Its members simply wanted to take pleasure in killing, and that was why they set out on this path."