Compared to the Knights of the Blood, the members of the Divine Dragon Alliance were much more hostile toward Akimi and his group—mainly because the Knights’ approach to clearing floors had always been more laid-back: if they could go faster, great, if not, no big deal.
The Divine Dragon Alliance, on the other hand, was willing to use any means necessary.
So at the root of it, there was only one reason the Divine Dragon Alliance rejected Akimi and the others: in the current SAO, Akimi, Asuna, and Kirito stood at the very top of the pyramid—receiving the most resources out of anyone.
The respawn rules of the SAO world dictated that the “cake” of supplies, experience, and items was fixed in size.
The only way to expand it was to push further upward through the floors.
But everyone could see how brutally difficult SAO was.
Trying to rush progression was incredibly risky—one mistake meant paying the price with your life.
Unlike other games, there was no restart.
That’s why, even after nearly a year of fighting in Aincrad, the players had only managed to reach the 40th floor.
Back to the point—stronger players getting more resources was perfectly natural.
But the Divine Dragon Alliance saw it differently: they believed players like Akimi were “hogging the latrine without taking a dump”—consuming the lion’s share of resources without providing contributions they deemed worthy.
In fact, it wasn’t just Akimi and his friends.
The Divine Dragon Alliance was equally hostile toward nearly every elite-type guild… with the exception of the Knights of the Blood.
(According to Akimi’s guess, that was probably because the Alliance simply couldn’t beat them.)
Of course, if you thought the Divine Dragon Alliance only excluded elite players, you’d be wrong—they also rejected the lower-tier and mid-tier players.
Their reasoning went like this:
Lower-tier players: As long as they could stay alive, that was enough; they should hand over their resources so others could create greater value.
Mid-tier players: They weren’t very useful; they should hand over their resources to help speed up progression.
Elite players: Not many of them were stronger than the Alliance; they should hand over their resources to boost the raiding group’s fighting power.
In short: utterly shameless.
The funniest part?
Even if you added up all the resources obtained by players from all three tiers, the total was only four to five times what the Divine Dragon Alliance alone was taking.
(Especially later, when the Knights of the Blood and the Divine Dragon Alliance both controlled guild bases on the 55th and 56th floors worth over a billion Col each. By comparison, other resource allocations weren’t even in the same league.)
Still, whether it was because of the earlier boss incident or not, this time the looks the Alliance members gave Akimi and Asuna carried less disdain, replaced by a faint trace of awkwardness.
But the two of them couldn’t be bothered to deliberately approach and rub it in—their attitude and reactions didn’t matter to Tomioka and Asuna at all.
Without exchanging a single word with the Divine Dragon Alliance members, the two of them walked straight up to Xilocart’s office door.
Even though they had never been to the Alliance headquarters before, it was easy enough to find.
Because, judging by Xilocart’s personality, the room at the very center of the base, the largest, most extravagant, most luxurious one—that had to be his.
After knocking and hearing his “Come in,” Akimi pushed open the teal-blue door embossed with the crest of the Divine Dragon Alliance.
Inside the room, Xilocart was speaking with another man clad in the Divine Dragon Alliance’s standard armor, and at first didn’t realize who had just entered his office.
“Rest assured, this raid will go off without a hitch. If nothing unexpected happens, the Floor 40th Boss will be taken down by us…” Xilocart said flatly, arms crossed as he leaned against his desk, looking calmly at his subordinate, his tone devoid of any warmth.
But as his gaze shifted toward the doorway mid-sentence, the indifferent look on his face shifted ever so slightly.
His words caught in his throat and he stopped talking.
He closed his mouth stiffly, eyes narrowing at Akimi and Asuna, before letting out a low, nasal “Hmph—”.
The armored man standing before Xilocart—the vice commander of the Divine Dragon Alliance—also noticed, turning his head toward the two newcomers, his brows faintly furrowing.
After a brief, tense silence, the vice commander spoke to Xilocart:
“Handle your own affairs. Plenty of people in the guild already have issues with you. If something else happens, your position as guild leader won’t last much longer.”
With that, he left the office without looking back—only casting a quick glance at Akimi and Asuna as he passed.
Once the vice commander was gone, Xilocart slowly sat down, his voice carrying an ambiguous tone as he asked:
“So, tell me—what brings you to the Divine Dragon Alliance? I doubt you’re so free that you’d come here just to stir up trouble.”
He got straight to the point, and Akimi couldn’t be bothered to waste words.
He directly replied:
“Of course not. We came to give you a warning—”
After Akimi explained PoH’s situation, Xilocart’s face darkened for a moment, but quickly regained its calm.
He lifted his head, as if trying to read Akimi’s expression to judge the truth of the information.
Sensing no hint of falsehood, he slowly looked away.
“…Tch. Fine, I understand.” Xilocart said at last, pulling up the transfer interface and sending 30,000 Col each to Akimi and Asuna.
“Payment for the intel.”
Staring at the confirmation prompt for receiving payment, Akimi raised a brow slightly, then pressed Confirm without much hesitation.
After seeing the two accept the Col, Xilocart picked up a sheet of paper from his desk, scanning it as he spoke:
“Is there anything else? If not, then please take your leave—the guild has pressing matters to attend to, so I won’t be seeing you out.”
Neither Akimi nor Asuna took issue with his attitude—if anything, they preferred it this way.
Without another word, they turned and departed.
For Akimi, it was simply because he had no fondness for the Divine Dragon Alliance; for Asuna, it was because she had already done what her conscience demanded.
Once the two had left, Xilocart slowly set down the guild report in his hands, his expression shifting several times before settling into a dark scowl.
Clenching his fist, he slammed it against the desk, muttering under his breath:
“PoH… very well. If I can’t have peace, then neither will you.”
— The end of the Chapter–
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