According to what Akimi and the others knew, the countdown-to-New-Year event was jointly proposed by more moderate members of DKB like Shivata and some of the less radical members of ALS.
If the event could be successfully held, it would likely help narrow the gap between the two guilds significantly.
Perhaps precisely because of that, Morte and his group wanted to ruin the event.
What puzzled the group, however, was where the members of ALS got the confidence to challenge the floor boss directly—without Argo's guide—and at a time when the labyrinth zone had only just started being explored.
Moreover, judging from the timeline, the ALS members didn't even have enough time to complete the boss-related quests—those that provide boss intel, such as its type, abilities, and weaknesses.
But the information provided by these quests is mostly embedded in lore or stories, and understanding a boss completely from those stories requires a significant amount of time to decipher.
As a result, members from both ALS and DKB typically wouldn't bother with boss quests and would just wait for Argo's intel.
"By the way, is there anyone in ALS who could tell us what's really going on?" Kirito asked.
After thinking for a moment, Akimi shook his head and replied, "Probably not. Most ALS members seem to think we side with DKB. That's because most of the current DKB members were originally recruited by Diabel, while most ALS members were people Kibaou brought in from elsewhere. And since we were recruited by Diabel, they lump us together with DKB."
"But that said, wasn't Kibaou also one of the people Diabel recruited? He seemed to be on very good terms with Diabel and really respected him."
It had to be said—Diabel was indeed an outstanding commander.
He was charismatic, impeccable in tactics, and a genuinely decent person.
The cheerful and passionate "knight" Diabel earned everyone's trust with his warm demeanor, and in the end, met a heroic fate sacrificing himself in battle against a boss.
It was no wonder he became an idol to so many players.
Currently, DKB operated under a hierarchical structure, whereas ALS promoted equality among all members.
As someone who had initially expressed dissatisfaction toward the beta testers monopolizing resources, it was only natural that Kibaou would dislike DKB's stratified system.
What Kibaou advocated for was shared resources and equality for all.
However, in SAO—a death game—true equality is impossible.
Everyone wants to survive, so when danger arises, the first instinct is to protect oneself, then protect those closest to them.
After thinking for a while, Kirito's eyes lit up and he said, "The moderates in ALS who planned this event probably don't want it to be ruined, right?"
"You mean—"
"Exactly. Let's see if we can stop Kibaou's plan through those moderates."
"Sigh..." Akimi let out a sigh and said with a bitter smile, "Even setting aside whether Kibaou would listen, what if he never told the moderates about his plan in the first place to keep it foolproof? In that case, who do you think they'd trust more—their own guild leader, or outsiders like us?"
"And there's an even bigger issue—what if the people who planned the event are actually part of Morte's group?"
Hearing that, Kirito also deflated.
But he quickly pulled himself together and said to Akimi, "Still, we can't just sit back and do nothing. We have to at least try. ALS taking on the boss alone is too dangerous—even if they succeed, it would only damage their relationship with DKB."
"You've got a point…"
Mananarena was a town built on the ruins of an ancient mining site.
The entire town was shaped like a funnel, with shops and houses arranged along sloped paths.
At the very bottom of this "funnel" was the entrance to a mining labyrinth, where one could find all sorts of ores, fossils, and ancient relics.
Inside the largest restaurant in Mananarena, Akimi and Kirito found the DKB members having a banquet.
Even from across a wall, they could hear the laughter and the clinking of glasses.
"Wow, it's the first time I've ever seen Lind make that kind of expression," Akimi said with a hint of surprise.
Seeing Lind, who normally always wore a grim face and furrowed brow, smiling so brightly was quite the sight.
"Guess the pressure's been too much for him lately," Kirito shrugged and said.
"Shivata's over there—this is our chance."
With that, he opened his message interface, typed in Shivata's username in the recipient field, and sent a message.
After receiving the message, Shivata froze for a moment, then frowned and said something to the people around him before walking toward the two.
Following them to a secluded corner, Shivata finally couldn't hold back and asked, "What exactly do you want?"
His tone was clearly a bit irritable.
This made Kirito think to himself: Uh, I only asked him to tell me who in ALS planned the countdown event, right...?
Seeing the confused look on Kirito's face, Shivata's irritation slowly faded and turned into suspicion.
"You… didn't come to me because you knew about my relationship with her?" Shivata asked.
"Her?" Kirito still looked completely clueless.
"Who are you talking about?"
At that moment, Shivata's face visibly twitched.
His eyes darted around, and he coughed dryly twice before saying, "It's nothing..."
"Shivata, we just want to understand the current situation with the countdown event…" Akimi said calmly.
"From what I know, there's trouble on ALS's side, isn't there? Please tell us what's going on. We won't leak it."
Shivata stared at him in shock and stammered, "How… how did you know?"
"You don't need to worry about how we know," Kirito said.
"Just know that we're here to help you solve the problem."
After a long silence, Shivata showed a troubled expression and slowly said, "Will you really keep it a secret?"
Both Akimi and Kirito nodded firmly.
With a sigh, Shivata opened his message interface and sent a message.
Then he said, "Please wait a moment."
A few minutes later, a figure clad entirely in steel plate armor approached them.
The armor was almost absurdly reinforced—you could tell just by looking how thick and high-level it was.
Even the helmet completely covered the person's head, leaving no part of their face visible.
"Shivata, what's going on?"
For some reason, the voice was full of metallic resonance, making it impossible to tell who it belonged to.
Hearing the armored person's words, Shivata scratched his head and said apologetically, "Sorry for calling you out so suddenly. It's mainly because these two seem willing to help… They've noticed that something's wrong."
The armored figure stared at Akimi and Kirito for a while, then opened the equipment interface and removed their helmet.
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