The end of the labyrinth fell into an absolute dead silence.
Heathcliff's duel invitation, like an invisible command, instantly choked everyone's breath.
The surprise in the eyes of the Knights of the Blood Oath members was quickly replaced by a fervent flame.
Their leader, Aincrad's acknowledged strongest guild master, was going to challenge the almost mythical god of strategy head-on!
This was a declaration to defend the guild's supreme honor!
Kirito's knuckles turned white, and a cold sensation came from the sword hilt.
His mind was in chaos.
Heathcliff's unmoving HP bar and this sudden duel invitation, these two things intertwined wildly, tearing at his perception.
Illogical.
All of this had a sense of a carefully orchestrated theatrical performance.
Asuna took half a step forward, her beautiful face filled with worry and confusion.
"Guild Master..."
Her voice was very soft, but Heathcliff stopped her with a raised hand.
The guild master just stood there quietly, waiting for an answer, as if the whole world only contained the two of them.
Argo silently shifted a step, blocking Chen Mo's front-side precisely.
Her nimble cat-like eyes narrowed warily, like a leopard entering a state of alert.
And Chen Mo, the center of the storm, reacted with an eerie calmness.
He didn't even stand up straight, maintaining his lazy posture leaning against the wall, merely slowly lifting his eyelids.
His gaze swept over Heathcliff, not lingering, as if the other party was just part of the background.
"Public duel?"
Chen Mo finally spoke, his voice carrying a hint of hoarseness as if he had just woken up; he repeated it, as if confirming some boring word.
This was one of his few interactions with Heathcliff, and he hadn't expected his invitation to come so suddenly.
"Mm." Heathcliff responded in a deep voice.
Chen Mo suddenly smiled.
It wasn't mockery, nor disdain, but a genuine smile, finding the matter itself quite interesting.
He finally straightened his body, patting away non-existent dust from his clothes.
Then, under the focus of hundreds of gazes, he turned around and took Argo's hand.
This action caused everyone's minds to briefly crash.
"My apologies."
Chen Mo said without looking back, his tone as casual as if refusing an invitation to afternoon tea.
"I've been a bit busy lately."
"I still want to take her to see the scenery after the sixty-second floor."
"Let's talk about it when I have time."
The entire end of the labyrinth was silent.
Busy?
Seeing the scenery?
These were reasons to refuse the duel invitation from Aincrad's strongest guild master?
This wasn't arrogance; this was treating the opponent's very existence as nothing!
Even beneath Heathcliff's calm and steady demeanor, there seemed to be a fleeting, imperceptible pause.
Asuna opened her mouth, finding her throat dry and unable to make any sound.
She had anticipated countless possibilities.
Accepting the challenge, setting conditions, or even direct mockery.
But she had never imagined that he would use "no time" as an excuse, so casually pushing aside a duel that could shake the entire SAO landscape.
Mito clenched her fists; she looked at Chen Mo's back, and in her beautiful eyes, fanaticism and unwillingness clashed fiercely.
How could he... treat Guild Master Heathcliff's challenge like this!
"Mr. Chen Mo."
Heathcliff's voice rang out again, this time with a hint of solemnity.
"This is not a request, but a confirmation of strength, by a player on the front lines of the Strategy, for the future of everyone."
He tried to give this duel the noble name of a righteous cause.
Chen Mo finally stopped walking.
He turned his face halfway, a playful curve on his lips.
"Confirm strength?"
"Alright."
He raised his other hand, casually pointing to the huge bronze door behind him.
"Hundreds of you, all elites, fought for over half an hour, almost getting wiped out."
"I, alone, would probably need... hmm, three minutes?"
He tilted his head, as if seriously calculating a simple math problem.
"Is that answer clear enough?"
"Pfft..."
Next to Kirito, a solo player couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, then quickly covered his mouth under the murderous stares around him.
The Knights of the Blood Oath members' breathing hitched, humiliation burning their cheeks.
This was an insult.
Naked, unconcealed humiliation!
Chen Mo's words were like an invisible hand, slapping hard at each of their proud achievements.
Asuna's face also turned pale, her sword-holding fingers trembling slightly.
However, Heathcliff showed no sign of anger.
He just stood there in silence, and that silence itself was an unfathomable abyss.
"Then," Chen Mo retracted his playful expression, his voice returning to normal, "if there's nothing else, we'll be leaving."
"Oh, and."
He added, as if remembering something.
"Once I clear the subsequent floors, if I'm in a good mood, I'll wait for you in the Starting City."
"Provided that you're fully prepared by then."
With that, he no longer paid attention to the varied expressions of the people behind him, took Argo's hand, and led Kirito, who was still in a state of mental confusion, towards the teleportation circle.
A flash of light, and the three disappeared.
Only the Knights of the Blood Oath and a group of dumbfounded solo players remained, processing everything that had just happened.
Heathcliff stood still for a long time.
Finally, he slowly exhaled, whispering in a voice only he could hear.
"Truly... a man beyond imagination."
...Back in Lindas on the forty-eighth floor.
As the light of the teleportation faded, Kirito still looked distraught.
He wasn't shocked by Chen Mo's arrogance, but by the additional comment about being in a good mood.
That sentence, seemingly casual, was a roundabout way of accepting the challenge.
But why?
Someone who could see that Heathcliff was problematic, why would he still agree to this clearly rigged duel?
"Can't figure it out?"
Chen Mo's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Argo had already familiarized herself with the general store nearby and gone to buy juice, leaving just the two of them standing in the teleportation plaza.
Kirito suddenly looked up; he finally asked the question that had been bothering him the whole way.
"Heathcliff's HP!"
He lowered his voice, his tone urgent.
"I saw it clearly; after defeating the BOSS, his HP bar was still three-quarters full! That's absolutely not normal!"
"How can a main tank not lose any HP!"
Chen Mo looked at him, his face expressionless.
"So what?"
"So... he's cheating! Is he a GM? Or something else?" Kirito's emotions were a bit agitated, "Since you know, why did you still agree to him? That duel is completely unfair!"
Chen Mo didn't answer directly.
He opened his status window and glanced at his long green HP bar, hanging in the upper left corner of his view.
Then, he closed the interface and looked up at Kirito.
He uttered a sentence that made Kirito's blood run cold.
"Kirito."
"Some people's HP bars, from the very beginning, were not meant for us to see."