Sword Art Online - Phantom Bullet

Chapter 16

From the time she was being transported from the lone island «ISL Ragnarok» to the waiting area, Sinon kept looking at the rankings and the countdown till log out while trying to calm herself down.

Though the tournament was over, the situation with «Death Gun» wasn't. Death Gun's accomplice might still be near her in the real world. Kirito said that the police would be there soon, but his log out time would be the same as Sinon. Also, he would need to contact his associate, so it would take at least 10 minutes. During this time, Sinon could only protect herself.

First, she had to check if her own room was safe. Then, she had to get Shinkawa Kyouji to come over to her house. Though there was a chance that he would meet Death Gun, these people weren't using guns or knives as weapons, but syringes with poison—as that's Kirito's view—so they wouldn't randomly inject drugs into people who are awake. Of course, Sinon was ready to tell him to be careful.

The large countdown timer quickly flew by, and there were 10 seconds left till log out.

She looked at the large results screen one last time.

Sinon and Kirito, who won at the same time were glowing at the highest level. Even though her ultimate goal when playing GGO was to let her name appear there, unfortunately, the outcome this time would most likely not count. The situation was way too abnormal, so she would pin her hopes on the 4th tournament.

There was no 2nd place. The 3rd place was Death Gun's log in character name «Sterben». Sinon herself didn't know how the name should be read, but to the mantle guy, «Death Gun» should be his real name, so his log in name should be used to cover up his true identity.

The 4th place was «Yamikaze». Most of the people bet money on him as they felt that he would be the champion, so the official betting company should have earned a lot now. Starting from the 5th position, there were names that were more common, but after names like «Dyne» and «Xiahou Dun»—the ranking ended at 28.

The bottom most place showed the names of the two who disconnected, «Pale Rider» and «Garret».

As expected, there were 2 victims of Death Gun in this tournament. This meant that he had 2 accomplices. What kind of organization did those 3 people take part in a VRMMO, what kind of experience did they have that would cause them to take part in such a horrifying plot...

As the countdown timer went to zero, Sinon didn't feel the exhilaration of victory, but an abnormally cold chill.

A floating feeling descended on Shino, and as this feeling disappeared, she was already lying on her bed in her room in the real world.

No—it's possible that it wasn't just one person. She told herself not to immediately open her eyes or move about.

Shino didn't move at all but merely closed her eyes and started noticing her surroundings.

At this moment, there were some slight sounds that went into her ears. The first was her own breathing, and next, it was the heartbeat that was rather fast.

Bellowing down near the ceiling was the air-conditioner that was giving off warm air, and also, there was the humidifier that was letting out a buzzing sound. She could hear the sound of a vehicle running by from afar, and there was also a deep sound of a stereo woofer from a room in this apartment.

—But other than these sounds, there weren't any other strange sounds.

This time, Shino tried to take a deep breath softly. Her nose took in the particles of air, and there was just a little fragrance. Shino knew that it was the vanilla soap she placed above the storage box to act as air-freshener.